Lake Macquarie City Council is calling on the community to provide historical information about the weapon as part of a grant application for conservation work on the cannon.

Council would like to hear from anyone who has information or photographs from when it was first placed in the park.

“We know the cannon is a minenwerfer, or German trench mortar, that was used during World War I, and that after the war, council was given two of these mortars in 1922 to display in Speers Point Park,” council’s integrated planning manager Sharon Pope said.

“We would like to hear from anyone in the community that might know how this minenwerfer came to be given to Lake Macquarie City Council, and why it was installed in Speers Point Park, particularly whether it has any connection to men or units from the area who fought in World War I.”