Locating the cannons

 Both ex-Johnsonville cannons are located at Trentham Military Camp and have been identified as '24 pounder' Carron-manufactured artillery weapons.

 

One of the 24 pounder cannons at Trentham

Cannon at Trentham

 

In 2009 and 2010 I made several visits to Waiouru and was unable to find the Johnsonville cannons located there.

In 2010 I met Major Magnus Latta of the 1st (New Zealand) Military Police Company and asked if he knew of any cannons at Trentham that may have been donated by a Mr Bothamley with a plaque recording the donation. He said he was aware of one beside the Church inside the entrance gates.He invited me out to the Camp and I subsequently met with Sergeant Jo Healey, who allowed me to photograph this cannon. He took me a couple of hundred yards away to where the other was located.

Each cannon had a brass plate attached with the following inscription:

“Presented to the Corps of Royal New Zealand Electrical and Mechanical Engineers by R. W. Bothamley Esq. 22 Sept 1960.
This gun was used in military engagements in the Paremata locality about 1846.”

 

Cannon at Trentham

The cannon located inside the entrance gate to the Military Camp

 

The next section in this article describes a cannon ball found on Middleton Road where the gun wagon rolled -  Claire Bibby, Glenside.