Machine gun Mk II aiming lamps in box

Wooden box containing two aiming lamps, cabling, pegs and operating panel. The box is painted dark green and has a leather carry handle, secured to the top by two metal brackets. Below the handle is a paper panel upon which is printed instructions for the care and use of the lamp system. These are not legible. Written in yellow paint on the top of the box is 'LOT 30'. The box is hinged at two points and opens through 180 degrees into two halves. When closed, these halves are secured by a metal hasp and staple above which is a small brass plate with the engraved markings: 'G. E. C. NO. A377 1924'. A broad arrow inside the letter 'D' is stencilled in white paint on the front, adjacent to the hasp. The number '3' is stencilled in white paint on the hasp and twice (one large, one small) on the left side of the box. There is a 14mm diameter hole drilled through the centre of the left side. Inside the lower half of the box are two storage compartments and a control panel made up of wood and bakelite panels. There are two threaded holes of 9mm diameter in the wooden panel. The bakelite panel has three cable connectors marked '2', '-' and '+' and a circular plastic on-off switch. There is a white broad arrow inside the letter 'D' next to this switch. Two aiming lamps are stowed in the larger compartment, on the side of which is simple circular rheostat. Each lamp has a rectangular body with a cable connector panel on the bottom of the body. Adjacent to the connectors is impressed the number '1' on one lamp and '2' on the other. Number 2 lamp has a missing cable holder plate. The word 'TOP' is impressed on the top of the body. Each lamp is conical with an opaque lens and dark centre spot. The cabling for the lamps is stowed in the upper half of the box, on a single spool. The handle of the spool is located on the exterior of the box, but can be folded so as to be partly recessed. There are two cable holding pegs stowed in metal clips adajacent to the spool. On the inside of the compartment is a paper panel upon which is printed the instructions for the care and use of the lamp system. The right half of this label is missing. Loose inside the box are a piece of bakelite, a short length of electrical cable and a very small fragment of the paper instructions.

These aiming lamps are Australian Government issue. Aiming lamps were used by heavy machine gun positions to establish and maintain field-of-fire reference points during night firing operations. Machine gun aiming lamps were developed at the end of the First World War, but too late to see action in that conflict. The Mk II lamps were introduced into service in 1922. They were replaced by the Mk III in 1936.