The Centurion was a British tank developed towards the end of World War II, and which served during the post-war years and into the Vietnam era. Australia initially received some Mk 3 Centurions in 1951, but this is an upgraded model, the Mk 5/1.

This particular tank saw service in Vietnam between October 1970 and September 1971. In June 1971 it was struck by a rocket propelled grenade, resulting in damage to the barrel and injury to the driver.

Carrying a crew of 4, the combat weight of this model Centurion was just over 54 tonnes. The main armament was an 84mm gun. The engine was a 27 litre V12 which produced 485 nm at 2550 rpm and powered the Centurion to a top speed of 35 kph. Thankfully it carried 1000 litres of fuel since fuel economy left something to be desired; around 1052 litres per 100km cross country. (For those of you unfamiliar with those units of measure, my car does about 7 or 8 litres per hundred kilometres. It has rather less armour plating than the Centurion, less armament (that I'm prepared to admit to), a considerably higher top speed, but is somewhat less capable of fording a river.)