User talk:NJR ZA/Archives/2012 1

Help identify this gun
You seem to know you way around artillery. Any idea what these are?

They are located on the main road through Graaff-Reinet, Eastern Cape, South Africa. I could not find any marking, but there does seem to be places where identification plates might have been been fitted in the past.

Most guns on static display in South Africa are from the Boer Wars, but the recoil system on these look a bit advanced for the period. Maybe WWI?

--NJR_ZA (talk) 06:14, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * They are both British Ordnance BLC 15 pounders, and I believe they may be priceless as so few were built and hardly any left. I believe the South African Army had a few batteries of them in WWI. They need to be preserved while they are still intact - they are museum pieces. Please contact Frank Louw, Johannesburg Branch of the Gunner's Association, flouw@global.co.za mobile + 27 83 266 6896 ASAP - he has a team  that restores artillery all over SA and I believe works with museums. Rod. Rcbutcher (talk) 07:59, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the info. I'll contact Frank and check if they are aware of these guns and if there are any plans to restore them. If they stay unattended where they are now they will probably be stripped by scap metal poachers as has happened with an old locomotive a block away from there. Will also upload a couple more photos of those two. --NJR_ZA (talk) 08:11, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * I believe the problem is money : artillery restoration burns up cash, I understand he gives priority to guns used as memorials, as they are the colours of the regiments that operated them. A cheap solution is to move them indoors in premises such as army barracks or Moth premises. Rod. Rcbutcher (talk) 08:16, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * By the way, I have a personal interest in this - my grandfather went to war in 1914 with a battery of these guns. This may have affected my opinion on the relevant importance of these pieces, so Frank is in the best position to judge. Rod. Rcbutcher (talk) 08:24, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Looking at the pictures, they appear to have been properly preserved : the wheels would not have survived otherwise, or perhaps they are reproductions. Looks like quite a lot of care has already been put into them : all the fiddly bits are still there. Rod. Rcbutcher (talk) 08:46, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Have uploaded some additional photos to commons and placed them in the correct category.

I'm sure they must be looked after, Graaff-Reinet is in the Karoo and it gets really hot and dry. Paintwork and wood would not have survived without maintenance. My only concern is the fact that the South African Class 8 4-8-0 locomotive plithed just a block away has been totally stripped of all copper and smaller metal pieces. Would hate to see that happen to these. --NJR_ZA (talk) 08:56, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * My personal opinion is that these are too valuable to be outdoors. Rod. Rcbutcher (talk) 09:14, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Have dropped Frank an email, will see what can be done. I'll keep you posted.
 * I was not aware of the South African Gunners Association, thanks for letting me know. Was a Bombardier (Gunnery Corporal) 1989-1990 for the SADF with a G6 battery. Will definitely find out how I can become more involved in preserving all the old artillery pieces in South Africa.

--NJR_ZA (talk) 09:36, 14 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Interesting article you found - sounds like these guns are not as rare as I thought then. Rod. Rcbutcher (talk) 12:56, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Categories before stub tags, please
Hi, when you upgraded Ulundi Airport you added a couple of categories after the stub tag. In fact the stub tag should be after everything except inter-language links - see WP:ORDER. Thanks. Pam D  17:58, 19 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I should know that by now, but still get it wrong from time to time --NJR_ZA (talk) 19:49, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Cecil Rhodes and Mark Twain
FYI, I have reverted your edit. The quotes are well sourced and from reliable publications.

It is the comment about a fictional story being quoted as fact that is illustrated by a quote from an unreliable source. How else could one illustrate it? It would be disturbing to find a false claim being supported by a reliable publication.

Cheers, Pdfpdf (talk) 23:14, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Proposed adding of "Type of waterfall" column
Hi Nick, please to meet on Wikipedia! Seems like we share some interests :)

Will u please read my proposal at List of waterfalls of South Africa & respond on the article's talk page?

Thanks, Aliwal2012 (talk) 13:19, 8 April 2012 (UTC)
 * Done --NJR_ZA (talk) 14:46, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Help identifying this gun
Can you help identifying this gun? I suspect BL 6 inch Mk VII naval gun, but am not sure --NJR_ZA (talk) 18:51, 28 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Problems ! Firstly, no date but possibly Boer War. At that time the British 6-inch Mk VII gun was brand-new, and the Navy would not normally allow any to be deployed other than on its ships - only obsolete and/or unneeded guns were released for land use, and at this point the new BL 6-inch Mk VII was a key naval asset. My research has only turned up the deployment of a single 6-inch gun for field use in this war, a QF 6-inch gun which was by then approaching obsolescence and certainly is not this gun, and several were also deployed on armoured trains. Also, while the carriage does look like the "Percy Scott" design of the Boer War and still used in WWI, the wheels are too small, only half the size I have typically seen used for 4.7-inch and 6-inch Mk VII guns on the "Percy Scott" carriage. Also, I haven't seen any wheels like this (look like steam tractor wheels) used on Boer War artillery, photos I've seen show ether small wooden wagon wheels, large flat plate wheels or wooden spoked wheels of RML 40-pounder carriages. The gun barrel has steps and does not look like the QF 4.7 inch, but does match the profile for a BL 6-inch Mk VII : but APPEARS closer in size to 4.7 than six inch, compared to the man - see this photo of a BL 6-inch Mk VII gun on Percy Scott carriage in WWI for comparison : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/6_inch_Mk_VII_field_gun_firing_LAC_3521906.jpg : they were really enormous, with barrel external length approx 24 feet. A clear detailed breech view is usually decisive for identification but we don't have it here. In other words, a mystery ! I suggest you contact Carl Hoehler  who lives in SA and has done research into this topic. regards, Rod. Rcbutcher (talk) 22:49, 28 April 2012 (UTC)

number of heritage sites and objects‏ in South Africa
Dear,

I'm a Belgian student doing research on the heritage policy of Stellenbosch. I would like to know how many heritage sites and heritage objects are on the heritage list of SAHRA. I already informed SAHRA but they do not answer me.

Can you help me?

Kind regards, Cyril Carton


 * Replied via email --NJR_ZA (talk) 11:57, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Tiger Brands collapsible box problem
Hi NJR,

Back in 2010 you helped me out with the cleaning up and formatting of an article I was working on at the time (Tiger Brands). It was great work and thank you very much for that, particularly the collapsible boxes. Since then I have added some pictures of the product items to the collapsible boxes which worked perfectly. However when I recently checked the page again today I have noticed that the tabs below are now overlapping with the pictures and I cant for the life of me figure out how to correct this problem. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how to fix it (or just fix it then I can see the code for myself)? --Discott (talk) 20:20, 9 May 2012 (UTC)


 * I stuck a

just before the tags. Not the most elegant solution, but it seems to resolve the problem. You might want to test and see if

will also work as clear might cause trouble if there are any other content on the right next to the collapsible boxes. --NJR_ZA (talk) 20:32, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Your opinion please
As you are one of the few gurus of South African military history on WP I'd value your input concerning my contributions so far to the new article Imperial Gift about the post WW1 donation of surplus British aircraft and related equipment to the Dominions. SA's share of the donation is what enabled the SAAF to get started in 1920. Thanks Roger (talk) 13:12, 26 June 2012 (UTC)


 * I like. Good article from scratch. I have nominated it for DYK Template:Did_you_know_nominations/Imperial_Gift --NJR_ZA (talk) 17:10, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Imperial Gift
Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:20, 4 July 2012 (UTC) 08:03, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

/* Calibre of Long Cecil" */
I'd like to add the calibre (104mm) to the information panel at the top, but can't seem to get there. Would you like to add it? Or tell me how?John Wheater (talk) 12:43, 29 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I have added it. Template:Infobox_Weapon gives a description of the fields that can be added on that template. --NJR_ZA (talk) 07:13, 30 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Thanks John Wheater (talk) 09:36, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Wiki Loves Monuments in South Africa
Dear WikiProject South Africa Wikipedians

This is an urgent call from Wikimedia South Africa. We are currently working hard on the South African side of the exciting international photographic competition, Wiki Loves Monuments. We have been planning to make this national competition really take off, but to do so, we need your help! The competition starts on the 1st September, and we need your help now! If you are interested in being part of or can help the Wiki Loves Monuments national organising team, then please join here [ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_in_South_Africa]. If you have limited time, but want to help out at an upload marathon at a heritage site near you, please then contact either Lourie [louriepieterse@yahoo.com] or Isla [islahf@africacentre.net]. We look forward to hearing from you!"

Kind regards, Lourie

Sent by Lucia Bot in 14:03, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

SAAF History
Comments on splitting / removing History section from the SAAF page would be appreciated. Discussion here. Farawayman (talk) 08:25, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

DYK for British cavalry during the First World War
Casliber (talk · contribs) 16:02, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Witchcraft Suppression Act, 1957
Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:03, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Call for Wikipedians in Residence in Africa
Hello,

I hope you are well and thriving!! WikiAfrica has just put out a call for two Wikipedians in Residence. One in Cape Town at WikiAfrica, at the Africa Centre; and the other for WikiAfrica Cameroon in Douala, at doual’art. If you are interested, please contact either Marilyn [marilyn.doualabell@undefineddoualart.org] for the WikiAfrica Cameroon call or Isla [islahf@undefinedafricacentre.net] for the WikiAfrica position in Cape Town.

If you are not interested in applying, I would be very grateful if you could spread this call far and wide among your networks to ensure that both projects get excellent candidates. Here is the link for the information page: http://www.wikiafrica.net/two-wikipedians-in-residence-for-africa/

Best regards, Islahaddow

(This message was sent using Lucia Bot at 22:29, 16 November 2012 (UTC))

Wikivoyage
Hi Nick,

it has been an anwful long time but the former Wikitravel community now made it under the roof of the WMF. Currently we are in the migration of the images and the WMF applies strict policies for the picture transfer to commons. Several pictures uploaded by you are tagged. Your old WT account has been migrated, too http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/User:%28WT-en%29_NJR_ZA You can either migrate your old account into the new standard http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Wikivoyage:User_account_migration or use your global ID (if you have one). I know it is a long time but it would be great if you could have a look. Best regards, jc8136/jan http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/User:Jc8136 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.203.3.97 (talk) 23:11, 9 December 2012 (UTC)