Cannon changes Australia history ?

[cannonmn]

Thanks, yes I have corresponded with R.D. a few times. He speaks at least 7 languages and some mutual friends consider him extremely knowledgeable in various "odd" weapons to which the arms collecting world at large pays little attention.

I've seen a large number of Lantakas (sometimes called Lela) but I'm sure he knows a lot more about them than I. There's a good article by Pat Badillo, as I recall, in a Guns and Ammo magazine from about 1971, about Lantakas. Pat was an antiques dealer in the Macati (sp?) section of Manila in the 1970s and had some of the best lantakas I've ever seen. He had one in his store, perhaps 6 feet long, that had all kinds of floral designs including high-relief "bunches of grapes" cast into it, and the casting quality was as high as on any cannon Ive seen, even the 16th C German masterpieces. It was priced at $15,000. in 1973, which was more than I earned in a year at the time, so I had to leave it there. I'm guessing it wound up in Ferdinand Marcos' collection, but could have gone to Brunei as well.

Here's another article mentioning some past assertions about Portuguese visits to Australia.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/...over-australia