A bomb in the oven, what could possibly go wrong? 1926..

Townsville Daily Bulletin 20 Apr 1926 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60942592

Oh, the 1920’s were a different time, weren’t they. The Brown family had a Mills Bomb for a toy.

A Mills bomb is a type of British hand grenade and, really, doesn’t belong in an oven. I think that if you have a grenade just hanging around the house and you put it in the oven it is not because you thought it was harmless, it is just because you have underestimated the size of that bang that will likely follow.

Nowadays, allowing your kids a toy like this could only end in a large contingency of bomb disposal experts assembled on your front lawn! I expect that at the time they weren’t the only kids with a toy like this though.

In 2007 a bomb was found by two amateur divers under Portsea pier, south of Melbourne. Portsea is where the rich and famous go to play, so had this bomb gone off it would have been just as well-reported in the social pages as in the actual news.

Adjacent to Portsea is Point Nepean National Park, an old military fort surrounded by bush still filled with unexploded ordnance. It is hardly surprising that explosives made it the short distance to Portsea and I expect that there are more hidden surprises in the area too.

Another thing Point Nepean is known for is the scenic Cheviot Beach. In December 1967 our Prime Minister, Harold Holt, left his holiday home in Portsea, travelled the few kilometers to Cheviot beach for a swim with friends and never came back.

As his body was never found here are any amount of conspiracy theories about his disappearance, Chinese arrived in a mini-sub and kidnapped him, Navy divers killed him because he was opposed to the American military base Pine Gap, UFO ‘s took him or suicide. Having seen Cheviot beach, I think I would go with the logical rough seas and sharks explanation.

In 1969 a plaque was bolted to the seafloor off Cheviot beach in memory of Harold Holt and noting his disappearance and it wasn’t until 2005 there was an official finding of drowning in accidental circumstances.

When a public figure dies often some sort of facility is dedicated to their memory, a park, a university wing etc. You might be amused to know that in the suburb of Glen Iris in Melbourne, part of his electorate, there is the Harold Holt Swim Centre.