Arabic version: قذيفة هاون في مدفأة ببورت أديلايد تدفع إلى تحذير بشأن السلامة

According to ABC News, workers renovating an old building in Port Adelaide found a live mortar shell buried behind a fireplace on Monday. Tradie Brad Harrison said the primer appeared to remain intact, prompting workers to notify police. Police confirmed the item was live, and a bomb squad X-rayed it before the army removed it for safe detonation at RAAF Edinburgh.

South Australia Police said discoveries of unexploded military ordnance were not common, though officers sometimes received reports involving grenades, bombs, mortars, ammunition and other hazardous materials. The public has been warned not to touch suspected ordnance, but to note its appearance, take a photograph if safe and call the Police Assistance Line on 131 444.

Former City of Port Adelaide Enfield mayor Gary Johanson said military items were far more familiar in Adelaide homes in the decades after World War II. He recalled seeing artillery shells used to hold doors open and described finding an artillery shell at a hard-rubbish site as a child. Police and the army later took that shell to what is now West Lakes, then largely swamp land, where it was detonated. Mr Johanson said it was live.

Mr Johanson also recalled military-issue .303 rifles being kept in Adelaide homes after the war and said many returning soldiers brought back souvenirs. He arranged for memorabilia from the former West Lakes home of decorated RAF Squadron Leader Douglas Wills Sampson to be donated to the National War Museum in Canberra. The collection included reconnaissance footage, flight uniform, logs and other wartime objects, underscoring his warning that potentially significant—or dangerous—items may still be hidden in sheds and old boxes.