A Newtown flat came dangerously close to an unexpected flat-warming last week, with an unexploded bomb found on two students’ property.
Aiden Milner and James Winstanley, both from Victoria, knowingly spent the past four months living with a bomb at their flat. The students told media they did not feel threatened by the bomb, because it had a hole in the top of it. It was not until builders arrived to do excavations at their property two weeks ago that the students became aware of the danger.
“We did not think it was dangerous [until] the builders arrived. They were out of there in a hurry and we thought we better report it,” Milner said.
The Defence Force Bomb Disposal Unit took the bomb to McAllister Park where it was put in a hole, covered with sandbags, and detonated.
Military bomb experts described the bomb as a six-pound (2.7 kg) “breech loading shell”, thought to date back to the 1800s. It was treated as though it was explosive and full of gunpowder, which does not deteriorate easily over time.
Unalarmed by the bomb was a tabby cat, who played with the shell prior to the Unit’s arrival on the scene.