The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum

The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum display armoured vehicles and artillery from the late 1800’s onwards. Open 7 days!
2 Skyrail Drive, Cairns 4878
(917)

The Australian Armour and Artillery Museum opened to the public on Saturday the 6th September 2014. The museum is privately owned and is the largest museum of its kind in the southern hemisphere. We are located next door to Tjapukai and Skyrail in Smithfield, a suburb of Cairns, North Queensland. We are dedicated to the collection, preservation, restoration and display of Armoured Vehicles and Art

illery from the 1800’s to the present day. Our collection includes armoured vehicles and artillery from both world wars with a particular focus on WWII. Currently our collection consists of over 200 armoured vehicles and artillery pieces, many of which will not be found anywhere else in Australia. We are constantly on the lookout for additional pieces of equipment that will make our museum a richer experience for those visiting. INSTAGRAM:
TRIPADVISOR: https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g1152915-d7129046-Reviews-The_Australian_Armour_and_Artillery_Museum-Smithfield_Cairns_Region_Queensland.html

05/06/2026

Friday well spent. After a full day diagnosing and fixing steering linkages from inside the hull, Steve and Dave take the SU-100 for its victory lap. This Soviet tank destroyer was one of the most feared vehicles on the Eastern Front, armed with a 100mm gun that could punch through virtually any German tank. Now it steers left AND right. Intolerable socialist crisis averted.

🎟️ Ride in the SU-100 at AusArmourfest: https://bit.ly/aaf26
🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BqhTHKJz2eg
📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

03/06/2026

Before you can rebuild, you have to tear it down. The Wespe's original shields coming off, corroded and battered after 80 years. They've done their time, but the mounting points they leave behind are critical for lining up the new fabricated sponson work. This week's full episode shows what happens when those holes don't quite line up, plus a hidden German engineering surprise in the drive sprockets that almost caught us out.

🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/g2_jgkArOnw
📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

29/05/2026

He was just cleaning the injectors. The Yeramba had other plans. Dave squirted WD-40 into the injectors to free them up and started turning the engine over — and the twin Detroit Diesel fired on its own. No fuel connected. No warning. Just a 29-tonne Australian SPG deciding it was time to wake up. Only 13 of these were ever built and apparently they still have a mind of their own.

🎟️ Want to see our vehicles running? AusArmourfest tickets: https://bit.ly/aaf26
🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7E6IcAPLH70
📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

27/05/2026

The difference between a restoration and a rebuild is in the details. Daryl carefully extracts every original tool clamp and fixture from the Wespe's corroded mudguards, maps their exact positions, and transfers them onto fresh steel. These small details are what make an 80-year-old vehicle feel authentic rather than just rebuilt.

Then Kurt picked up a grinder and reminded everyone why Daryl does this for a living. There was a mistake. Daryl intervened. A flashback to Kurt's first ever weld was involved. It's all in the full video.

🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tKFZxUu4dI8
📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

22/05/2026

From a wreck with no engine to this. Ron restored an M4 Sherman almost entirely by himself — in his shed in rural Victoria. He fitted a Deutz V10 engine, fabricated the steering and clutch linkage by hand, fitted the track solo with a tractor, and wired the entire electrical system. Then came the first start ("start ya b*stard!"), the first drive, the turret going on, and finally — paint.
One man. One shed. One tank. What a journey.

🎟️ Come see Ron's Sherman at AusArmourfest: https://bit.ly/aaf26

🔧 Full series on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-k_rIztg9DA

📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

20/05/2026

When the museum acquires two original KV-1S mud scrapers and they're both for the same side... you make it work. Beau bends the damaged one back into shape and fits the hub caps on the front idlers. After months of fabricating parts from nothing, the KV-1S is finally starting to look like a tank again.

🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/0UpctTieXlA

📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

17/05/2026

From 70 litres of oil flooding the crankcase to this. The 2S7 Pion — the world's largest self-propelled gun — completes its first ever lap of the track after 12 years of sitting idle. 46 tonnes of Soviet artillery that simply refused to die. And now? You can ride in it.

🎟️ AusArmourfest tickets: https://bit.ly/aaf26
🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ntsPxK2jZlM
📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

16/05/2026

T-72. T-55. BMP-1. Three Cold War legends, one track, back to back. The T-72 is still one of the most widely used main battle tanks on the planet, the T-55 is the most produced tank in history, and the BMP-1 changed modern warfare as one of the world's first infantry fighting vehicles. And you can ride in them.
🎟️ AusArmourfest tickets: https://bit.ly/aaf26

🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ntsPxK2jZlM
📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

15/05/2026

First out of the gates — Master Milo's Type 69 rolls onto the track. This was just the start. We deployed FIVE Soviet-era armoured vehicles for test runs this week including the T-72, T-55, BMP-1, and the absolute beast that is the 2S7 Pion. Want to ride in them yourself?

🎟️ AusArmourfest tickets: https://bit.ly/aaf26
🔧 Full video on YouTube: [link]
📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

13/05/2026

Every rebuild starts with a teardown. Here's the Wespe's entire cooling system coming out — bulkheads, radiator fan, brake dust extraction pipes, all of it. Daryl puts it all back together (with Kurt's questionable assistance) in the full episode on YouTube.

🎟️See the Wespe in RUNNING CONDITION at AusArmourfest: https://bit.ly/aaf26

🔧 Full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UcRCPWbzTPM

📍 Australian Armour & Artillery Museum, Cairns QLD

Address

2 Skyrail Drive
Cairns, QLD
4878

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Saturday 9:30am - 4:30pm
Sunday 9:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+61740381665

Website

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