Swords were carried into battle in 1914!

[leigh kitchen]

Probably still crop up in bar fights in Darwin?

I can see that swords might be ground down, but they're not going to make a machete - more of a knife.

That's a point, I have a Serbian sword, etching re. King Peter, ground down to a knife, hilt shortened, with a Mauser bayonet scabbard. Must dig it out.

ned

[aussiesoldier]

Not sure who to ask about this.  I am going down to the Australian War Memorial and I'll drop a note into the research section.  

If you ever get out to Australia, you must visit the War Memorial - it is the best presented, best equipped war museum I have ever seen.  Can access it via internet.  Well worth a day or two.

[peter monahan]

Ned, as I say, 'heard it from a bloke in a pub' or, in my case, read it in a novel.  Apparently they were shortened and the scabbards likewise bobbed ans crimped shut.  I can't imaghine they were very good machetes, but when the Nipponese were expected daily in northern Oz, it may have seemed like idea than turning them into tent pegs or steel ingots.  Who can say what goes through the minds , if that's the right word, of army QMs?   And if we could say, would we want to?