"One of the nicest things about Australia is that you do pay serious reverence to your military veterans and campaigns," he said. The online gaming company Mr Moran works for, Wargaming, donated the tank to the Cairns-based museum because "its history will be treated with the respect that it deserves". "He sold it in 2006, it went to California where it was mated with a turret that was found lying around and that became the gestation for the restoration project." He said the hull (or main body) of the tank now on display in Cairns was once owned by John Belfield who ran the Melbourne Tank Museum. "That's how half of the tanks that still exist, still exist. It is just such a privilege to be able to bring a tank like this back to this country. "They were demilitarised, turrets were removed and they were put on the private market," Mr Moran said. Shortly after the conclusion of WWII, because of a lack of demand for their use, some Sentinel tanks were turned into agricultural tractors. "In fairness, at least the Sentinel was unusual enough that it wasn't going to be confused with something the Allies were using." From tank to tractor and back again "That was pretty typical of movies in the post-war industry they didn't really think the audience cared if a tank looked realistic, as long as it had a German cross on the side. "If you see The Rats of Tobruk they've got German iron crosses on the side of them," Mr Moran said. The closest any Sentinel tank ever came to seeing actual military service was in the shooting of the film The Rats of Tobruk.
"So it just simply didn't make sense for Australia to continue to produce their own tank." "By the time the fighting really got going against the Japanese, the Americans and British had started producing tanks of their own in large numbers and to a standard design.