The Gun/Cannon from HMCS Protector

The six-inch breech - loading gun (or cannon) from HMCS Protector located at the entrance to Semaphore jetty has previously moved around quite a bit.

"The Port Adelaide Sketchbook" by Chris Halls includes a drawing of the gun, along with the explanation that 5 such guns were recovered from the Port River.

"The Port Adelaide Sketchbook" by Chris Halls

Although the gun is currently located on the foreshore by the Semaphore jetty, it was relocated at Jenkins Street, Birkenhead for a while before moving back to the jetty entrance.

According to the December 1995 issue of the “Portonian” newsletter by the Port Adelaide Historical Society (Vol.23, No. 4), E.J. Woodroffe wrote a letter to the Editor of The Advertiser which was published in the newspaper on 4^th November 1939. Woodroffe wrote that the Mayor of Port Adelaide was going to unveil the gun “in its new position on the lawns of the Soldiers’ Memorial” (Semaphore War Memorial).

(Woodroffe may have been associated with Woodroffe's Emporium & Men's Store at 77 Semaphore Road, Semaphore.)

The September 1999 issue of the “Portonian” reported that the gun “has been removed to the Submarine Corporation for sand blasting before transport to the Training Ship Adelaide* entrance for display.

* (The Australian Navy Cadets in Port Adelaide, 5-7 Jenkins St, New Port (formerly Birkenhead.

The gun was located at the Training Ship Adelaide entrance for a few years perhaps, but it was later re-located back at the jetty entrance, where it still stands today, by the Semaphore War Memorial.

This old anchor replaced the gun at the Jenkins Street site: -

The six-inch breech - loading gun from HMCS Protector

(Source: https://www.waymarking.com/gallery/image.aspx?f=1&guid=99c77255-7896-463b-ae43-fc34dd58342c&gid=3)

Both the anchor from the Star of Greece and the Semaphore War Memorial can be seen in the background on the left-hand side.

HMCS Protector was a 'gunboat' for the colony of South Australia. Stephen Jeisman wrote a book titled "Colonial Gunboat - The story of HMCS Protector and the South Australian Naval Brigade" (2012): -

A couple of photos of some of the guns from HMCS Protector feature in the book "Colonial Gunboat - The story of HMCS Protector and the South Australian Naval Brigade" by Stephen Jeisman.

I have written previous article about the Protector – “Art and Artefacts from HMCS Protector”  and “HMCS Protector, South Australia's only colonial warship”. I also wrote The Protector Wreck at Heron Island for GIRT SD, but this is a members only blog.

“Triumph, Tragedy and Port Adelaide” by Ron Ritter gives details about the Semaphore War Memorial, which he refers to as being the Sailors and Soldiers Memorial. He also describes the placement of the Protector’s gun (stern gun). It was removed from the stern of the Protector “to create more deck space  on the ship for training purposes”. Its first display site was “at a location adjacent to the southern side of the entrance of the jetty”. It was later moved next to the 1889 rotunda in the 1920s. It seems from a photo in the book that the rotunda was south of the war memorial and the gun was located right by the fence along the Esplanade. The gun was later unveiled in a new location immediately west of the war memorial (the site where it stands today?).

As explained above, however, the gun was moved to the Training Ship Adelaide entrance for a few years perhaps. According to “Triumph, Tragedy and Port Adelaide”, the gun was removed by Council in 1995. It had been deteriorating too much by the jetty, so it was taken away to be restored. That apparently took some time because it seems that it was eventually placed at the entrance to the Training Ship Adelaide in 2004. Many people complained about the location through social media. It was later moved back to its former spot between the war memorial and the jetty entrance, just west of the Star of Greece anchor.