Outback MG runner

History

The Force Communications Unit was Australia's main contribution to the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (1992–93), its signallers scattered in detachments across the provinces with their Outback 4×4s repainted UN white. At Sisophon in Banteay Meanchey province the Australians shared a compound with Dutch marines, and in August 1993, as the mission wound down, a DShK 12.7 mm heavy machine gun that had been handed in and restored by the unit's fitters was bolted to a pedestal in the back of one of the unit's Perenties — an unarmed signals vehicle — to give the Dutch a fright. The Memorial's photograph records the result before the gun came off again. The registry model is the Outback 4x4 in UN white with its canvas top cut back to a cab top, the tray open, the DShK on its pedestal with ammunition box and spade grips, a camouflage net draped over the tray side and UN on the doors. As an armed vehicle in the game it can fire; the real mounting was strictly temporary and for show.