German tank "Mephisto" arriving at the Queensland Museum, Bowen Hills, Brisbane

Only 20 German A7V Sturmpanzerwagen were built during the First World War. Today only one survives - number 506, Mephisto, which was brought to Australia in 1919 as a war trophy. Mephisto was part of the initial German tank detachment which participated in the first German tank attack at St Quentin in France on 21 March 1918. In its second operation, at Villers-Bretonneux, the tank became stranded in a shell crater and was abandoned on the battlefield. Recovered by members of 26th Infantry Battalion, which comprised mainly Queenslanders, Mephisto eventually made its way to Queensland, and for many decades was housed in the grounds of the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, which was then located in the Exhibition Building at Bowen Hills.