Arms Cavalcade 2022

SEPTEMBER 2022 ISSN 1325-779X

04 Contents 10 44

The information available on the worldwide web is marvellous. My article on the powder flasks would have taken years if I had to visit libraries to inspect the reference material that I could access at my desk, at home, during the Covid lockdown.

Visit our website at: www.antiquearmssociety.org.

During the year we lost two life members, Tony Wood and Ron Cook. Both of whom contributed articles to Arms Cavalcade. Both had extensive knowledge in collecting fields. Tony in Islamic arms and Ron Cook in colonial military arms. Their collections have been sold through Australian Arms Auctions. The collections have been recycled within the collecting community and their families have done well. The predicament of selling or passing on collections is insoluble. Also how do you share and hand on knowledge of collections. At each Society meeting there is a topic, or two so members can share their knowledge and their collections.

I read an interesting comment on writers by Heather Rose, a successful author from Tasmania: “The hardest thing with young writers is that they don’t think about their audience. You can write for yourself, but you might have a very limited appeal.”

au Arms Cavalcade this year has articles on Japanese swords and fittings, Arms in Afghanistan, Rising Sun Badges, a 19 th Century British Army sword, a shotgun with an interesting history, a further report on the Cave Dwellers in Tasmania, Keris, and powder flasks with the impressions of Kangaroos and Lyrebirds stamped on them.

My thanks to the authors, photographer and design team, and my

Enjoyco-editors.thisedition. 15 22 35 OFFICE BEARERS Chairman Brad Manera Deputy Chairman Harvey Facer Secretary Terry Hartmann Treasurer Marie Line TolbizeGryta REGISTERED OFFICE C/- Hartmann & 135AssociatesMacquarie St Sydney NSW 2000 EDITORS Paul Duffy Bill MikeTaylorSmith COMMITTEE Paul RickMitchAndrewKenBillDouglasDuffyYoungNewboldBuxtonGrytaFrostJones PHOTOGRAPHY Ivan Fitz-Gerald DESIGN Scribbly Bark Design EDITOR’S NOTE © No part of this magazine may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the editor or authors.

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When a collector acquires a piece he enjoys the task of researching and sharing his knowledge with fellow collectors. This can be the hardest thing for a collector, but remember, someone will listen.

The RisingAustralianSunBadge History and Origins By Brad Manera. Senior Historian / Curator Anzac Memorial

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This gilded first pattern Rising Sun is a Boer War souvenir collected by Dr Frederick Ingoldby of Albany, WA. Ingoldby served as a captain (medical) with the Western Australian Bushmen’s Contingent and was severely wounded at Koster River in July 1900. The original badges were not issued gilded. I assume this finish was Ingoldby’s personal touch. B. Manera Collection

I find it intriguing that so many commonplace symbols, recognisable nationally and internationally, have origins that are obscure and contested. The Australian Army’s badge, the Rising Sun, is shrouded in such a mystery. So where did the symbol of our Gallipoli Anzacs, our Rats of Tobruch [sic] and “the ragged bloody heroes” of Kokoda come from?

The badge was first worn by Australian soldiers in 1902, issued to contingents of the Australian Commonwealth Horse bound for the closing stages of the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). The sunburst form was different to any of the badges worn by Australian colonial military units to that time. When we try to trace the origins of the badge, we find that the paper trail runs cold in 1927. At that time much of the documentation of the Australian Department of Defence was transferred from Melbourne to Canberra. Many documents considered ‘non-essential’ were disposed of. Without a clear paper trail legend, myth and imperfect memory step in. Origin theories

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For decades the Army has been teaching its young soldiers that their badge was based on a trophy of arms comprising 13 bayonets displayed in a semicircular spray around a Tudor or Imperial crown. This spray of bayonets comprised seven yataghan sword bayonets interspersed with six Martini-Henry socket bayonets. It is claimed that the original concept of the trophy of arms belonged to Major Joseph Gordon of the South Australian Permanent Artillery. He is attributed with naming the trophy “the Australian Rising Sun”. The trophy was made in the 1890s. Gordon presented it to British General Edward Hutton in January 1902 on his arrival in the recently federated country.Hutton’s immediate task was to dispatch Commonwealth units to war in South Africa. The origin story of the Rising Sun badge claims that Hutton demanded of a member of his staff, then Captain, Herbert Cox-Taylor of the 6th Infantry (Australian Rifles) Regiment that he come up with a design of the badge for the contingents. Hutton is said to have told Cox-Taylor that he wanted something more martial than the plants and animals usually seen on Australian military badges and gestured towards the trophy of arms that he had been given by Gordon. Another popular theory of the origin of the design contradicts that of Army lore. The challenge to the trophy of arms suggestion claims that Cox-Taylor was influenced by Colonel John Lyster who was about to take an interstate contingent to South Africa. Lyster demanded a unique badge to unify his men and, like Hutton, was opposed to the idea of the plants and animals or the Australian coat-of-arms.

With only days to design and produce the badge it is suggested that Cox-Taylor looked at his own hat badge, that of the 6th, and by stripping away the plants and animals all that remained was a rising sun.

There is also a delightful story that the rising sun symbol was inspired by the logo on the Hoadley jam factory near Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, earning the Victorians bound for the Boer War the nickname Hoadley’s Horse.

While these debates about the origins of the Rising Sun badge focus on either a trophy of arms or a modified version of an existing colonial military badge, or even a jam factory logo, they seem to ignore the historic use of the rising sun as an Australian symbol.

In the 19th century the Australian colonies, made rich by wheat crop, wool clip and gold discoveries, were frequently and collectively referred to as “the rising sun of the British Empire”. The rising sun symbol appears on coinage and in other public imagery at least as early as the 1850s. The cap badge of the 6th Infantry c1900. This example was collected by Sydney tailor and militia NCO in 21st Regiment Oswald Moore. Moore was killed in action at Lone Pine on Gallipoli with the 1st Battalion AIF. Anzac Memorial Collection

The Rising Sun in Australian history

The third pattern badge, introduced in 1904, had the text “Australian Commonwealth Military Forces” on the scroll beneath a Tudor or Imperial crown in the centre of a sun with rays of alternating lengths. The words of the scroll indicate that there was no Australian army but rather a collection of permanent and part-time forces that gave Australia a defence capability. This Commonwealth or general service badge was used by units of Australia’s part-time militia in the first decade of the 20th century but was

B. Manera collection.

The first and second patterns were both worn by contingents of the Australian Commonwealth Horse and recycled for the Commonwealth contingent to the coronation but with the Australian Defence Act 1903 it was decided on a new badge with a more detailed scroll.

The Anti-Transportation League campaigned to prevent the reintroduction of transportation of British convicts to NSW and Tasmania. Remove the backward facing kangaroo and emu framing the central shield on the League’s 1853 medallion and the remaining symbol is a rising sun.

B Manera Collection

Whatever the origins of the design may have been, the concept of a unifying symbol for the military forces of the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia was appreciated and adopted. The first pattern Rising Sun, illustrated in Fig:1, and the second pattern Rising Sun, that included a scroll reading “Commonwealth Horse”, worn in South Africa, were redesigned for the men serving under the new 1903 Defence Act. In 1904 arguably the most famous of the Rising Sun badges emerged from the manufacturer’s stamps.

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The gilt, enamel and silver version of the third pattern Rising Sun was introduced for the Staff and Instructional Corps. London medal makers RJ Gaunt & Son Ltd were a major supplier of these badges. B. Manera collection. The oxidised brass or bronze version of the third pattern Rising Sun is the most common. Introduced in 1904 it was used as a general service badge for militia units that did not have a distinctive regimental badge. During the world wars it became the badge for the Australian Imperial Force and eventually for the militia on active service.

The Australian Rising Sun badge has been through seven changes from the Boer War to the present.

Changes to the badge

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In 1969 the Australian Military Board abbreviated the scroll. It read simply “Australia”. The crown, in the heart of the sun, suffered by being reduced in size and embossed on top of a Commonwealth star. This sixth pattern Rising Sun was approved by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972. It remained in use to 1991 and coincided with complications to the embellishment of the slouch hat including a colour patch and a regimental or corps badge added to the puggaree. This complicated design was simplified by a return to the monarch’s crown in the orbit of the sun and a more self-explanatory scroll with the text “The Australian Army”. Approved in 1991, the seventh pattern Rising Sun has been in use since 1994. Use of the badge As the tragedy of the Great War (1914–18) found its way into every home in Australia the Rising Sun became a symbol for loved ones and for loss. The badge found its way into keepsakes, embroidered postcards and cushion covers, cast tokens - reminders of loved ones and, most poignantly, the ribbons worn by widows and bereaved mothers. After the war the Rising Sun was a logical choice for the headstones of the fallen in the newly created cemeteries of the Imperial War Graves Commission and on Australian war memorials at home and overseas. made famous by members of the rapidly recruited and raised Australian Imperial Force (AIF), the men who became legend during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 and earned a place among the world’s most gallant soldiers on the Western Front and in Sinai and Palestine between 1916 and 1918. The badge did not change through the 1920s and 30s and was reissued to a second AIF during the Second World War. Again, it was seen in the Middle East and throughout the Southwest Pacific. When the AIF and the militia fought side by side for the first time, on the Kokoda Trail, both wore the third pattern Rising Sun. As the 1940s drew to a close Australia created a regular army. The infantry component was titled the Royal Australian Regiment. The militia was renamed Citizens Military Forces. The Rising Sun was modified to reflect the changes. The scroll was simplified to read “Australian Military Forces” and their badge was issued in gilt metal. Although the fourth pattern was approved in 1949 the third continued to be issued through the Korean WarWith(1950–53).thecoronation of the new queen in 1953 the badge was changed, creating a fifth pattern. The fifth pattern was approved in 1954 but was not produced until 1966. Both fourth and fifth patterns of the Rising Sun badge. The only difference between the two is the change from the Tudor or ‘King’s’ Crown to the St Edward’s or ‘Queen’s’ Crown. B Manera collection.

The cloth patches on this jacket worn by Corporal Dave Land, a helicopter gunner with C Squadron, 5th Aviation Regiment ‘Brahmans’, in Afghanistan in 2008, include the seventh pattern Rising Sun embroidered on his Disruptive Pattern Desert Uniform. B Manera Collection.

The design chosen for the headstones employed a unique scroll with an unusual spelling variation, the plural “Australian Imperial Forces [sic]”. On war memorials the symbol has been inlaid or embossed on stone, cast in bronze or etched into glass. Variations in manufacture

A commonly asked question is “can the third pattern Rising Sun be dated to the first or the second world wars?” As the badge was in production almost continuously from 1904 to around 1950 it is almost impossible to tell exactly when a particular badge was made. The Melbourne badge makers Stokes & Sons and KG Luke were most prolific. They usually embossed their name on the reverse of the badge. Other manufacturers followed suit, but many left the reverse blank.

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The Rising Sun used on sweetheart badges made from materials ranging from mother-of-pearl to sterling silver, a matchbox cover commissioned by the men of the 4th Battalion AIF and the bereaved mothers and widow’s ribbon. Curiously the ribbon predicts a scroll that would not be adopted for over 30 years. B. Manera collection. The Rising Sun provides an unmistakable background for the design on this commemorative medallion minted for the opening of the Australian national memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France in 1938. B. Manera collection.

The Rising Sun in the floor, wall and windows of the Hall of Memory at the 1934 Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney.

AARRRM SSCCCC AVAVA LCACA D DEDEE 2022 22 Brad Manera Senior Historian| Curator Anzac Memorial t. (02) 8262 2901 Locked Bag A4010 Sydney NSW 1235 e. brad.manera@anzacmemorial.nsw.gov.au w. www.anzacmemorial.nsw.gov.au

Military Badges of N.S.W.The Australian Badge. The reverse of this Rising Sun is clearly embossed with the Western Australian maker Sheridan’s of Perth. B. Manera collection. uniformm in .

Rising Sun hat badges, fitted with slides, made by Tip Tafts of Birmingham beside a collar badge, also made by Tip Taft, fitted with lugs. B. Manera collection.

The only third pattern Rising Sun’s that can be identified as having been made during the Great War are those made by British contractors at a time when Australian suppliers could not keep up with the demands of the increased size of the AIF. As British regimental badges of the period were attached to hats using a flat bar or ‘slide’ rather than the lugs fitted by Australian badge makers, Rising Suns fitted with slides must date to between 1916 and 1918. Today Australian Army badges are made from an alloy called Staybrite. Polishing, the bane of any old soldier’s existence, has disappeared, but the symbol of the rising sun continues in use by the Australian Army and on memorials of all shapes and sizes. The origin of the Rising Sun badge may be obscure, but we continue to imbue it with the values of courage, endurance and sacrifice demonstrated by those who have worn a uniform in defence of Australia and of their mates.

500 Year JapaneseOldSword

The sword’s appraisal was conducted by the NBTHK, which is one of the two pre-eminent Japanese sword appreciation and authentication associations (the other is the NTHK). Both organisations accept swords and fittings at regular authentication and grading meetings called shinsa, where expert panels

By W T L Taylor

usually of four or five members examine, judge and grade swords against agreed standards. They issue formal certificates only if a sword or fitting is good enough. False signatures, significant damage or flaws will not pass. Certificates add authenticity and value to the sword and fittings and should always remain withThisthem.sword has two NBTHK appraisal certificates: one for the blade and the other for its matched set of antiqueExperiencedfittings. collectors assess the age and quality of a sword by looking for the same characteristics sought by the NBTHK and NTHK panels. There are no short cuts for new collectors. You need to acquire some good reference books, look closely at the detailed descriptions given by the main international sword dealers in Japan, USA and Europe, listen to established collectors, and above all, handle as many swords as you can. It may seem odd that so many very old Japanese swords still exist today. The main reason is that for centuries swords were produced in Japan in huge numbers during constant battles for power that only subsided when the Tokugawa clan took the Shogunate after 1600. Sword making continued after that, but the oldwww swords, ‘kotoken’, were so valued and carefully maintained that many thousands survived in remarkably good condition.

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The sword blade has been formally appraised in Japan as having been made in the Muromachi period, 1333 - 1573.It is part of a larger group of swords known as kotoken, which means swords made before 1600.

Readers of Arms Cavalcade may recall my recent articles on antique Japanese tsubas and other sword fittings. I now offer a description and analysis of a complete antique sword. This article is intended to be introductory, but I am aware that a knowledgeable Japanese sword collector could still object that I have left out important variations, or have made generalisations that are too broad. However, Japanese sword lore is so detailed and its classifications so numerous that it is easy to become lost in layers of explanation and interpretation. My purpose here is just to open the door a little for general arms collectors, by examining a typical example of a 500 year old sword whose blade is in good condition, combined with a quality set of matched antique mounts.

A common question is: “How can you tell how it is that old?”. The short answer in this case is that the sword blade has been formally appraised in Japan as having been made in the Muromachi period, 1333 - 1573. It is part of a larger group of swords known as kotoken, which means swords made before 1600.

Learning to appreciate the many variations is one of the features of Japanese sword collecting that draws so many collectors from around the world. This blade has a wide fuller running up each side. Many Japanese swords do not have them, but the presence or absence of a fuller has no bearing on the quality of a sword: as in European swords, the fuller is

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tempering pattern and the crystals have been deliberately brought out by the polishing process, because they form a key part of the appreciation of the sword: the more there is to see, the better. In the fan-like section at the top of the blade (the kissaki) the cloudy temper line can be seen curling round and turning back, with thin strings of crystalline form. accordance with his school training and his creativity.

The next best thing for a collector is to find an old sword with antique mounts that may be later than the blade, but match from top to bottom, with a clear theme determined by the owner’s personal taste. The appearance of a samurai’s sword was an important part of how he wanted to be perceived by the world. The handachi mounts of this sword were chosen with care by its then owner about two hundred years ago. They are modelled on the traditional furniture of long swords, which suggests that this was the companion sword to an identically mounted katana. A pair of swords with matching mounts is called a daisho. As only the samurai were allowed to wear two swords, this is an indicator that the sword has a samurai heritage. The mounts at the top and bottom of the hilt have the same decoration as those fitted to the top and bottom of the scabbard. The craftsman who made them used an alloy of silver and copper called shibuichi, which was patinated to give a dark green colour, then finely inlaid with silver to depict plum

The tang Despite its age the tang is in its original form and condition. Swords of this age often have heavily rusted, shortened or reshaped tangs but this is original, showing a nice patina with a clear, strongly cut signature. Although there were several smiths signing as Nobukane over several hundred years, the NBTHK appraisers could not determine which of them made this particular sword. Signatures with only two characters are common on koto swords. Although there are koto swords with long inscriptions (maker’s name, their province, clan and date), you are more likely to see only a two due to the effect of many polishes (ie professional sharpening) over centuries of use. The thickness of the cutting part of the blade has thus been progressively reduced, leaving the tang 15% thicker than the polished surface. This is a typical indicator of an old blade. The sword furniture Old blades were generally remounted many times over the centuries as fashions and owners changed. Koto blades with their original mounts are rare, even in museum collections.

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A small knife slots into the scabbard on its inner side. This is not a weapon, but is used for basic tasks requiring a small sharp blade. They were given a simple temper line like their larger brothers and often inscribed with the names of deities, or a maker’s name and where it was made. In this case the inscription is too worn to be deciphered. Its flat, rectangular handle (kozuka) is early 19th century Ishiguro School, depicting a flowering plum tree and two nightingales. It was made from shakudo (patinated alloy of gold and copper) with gold highlights, and signed on the back IshiguroTonan kao. There was strong demand for Ishiguro work throughout the 19th century, and this kozuka is typical of the school’s style.

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It is worth noting that the raised parts of the design sit on a surface of very small hand punched domes, called nanako. There are 900 of them in every square centimetre.Likethehilt (tsuka), the saya (scabbard) is made of two pieces of wood internally shaped around each side of the blade and then glued to fit firmly and precisely. It was then given a hard dark green lacquer finish, decorated with two samurai mon (family crests).One is the Sakai mon (an idealised oxalis shape used by Daimyo Tsurugaoka in Dewa). This probably denotes that he was the lord which the sword’s owner served.Thesecond is the Igeta mon (an idealised image of a well-frame), which is most likely the owner’s own family mon.

The tsuba The tsuba (sword guard) is iron with a classic design depicting a gnarled old plum tree in blossom. The sophisticated design uses blank space to highlight the tree in silhouette. This is a long-established stylistic tradition, made in this case by a Kawaji school craftsman from Hagi, in Choshu province, in the latter half of the eighteenth century. This restrained style of pierced iron tsuba was favoured by samurai over the more decorative designs found on swords worn by merchants.

The hilt of the sword (tsuka) was made with a twopiece wood core. Each side was shaped internally to fit the tang of the sword like a glove, then glued together. Over that was wrapped a select piece of ray skin, which is hardy and water resistant and whose nodules give excellent grip. In this case the quality of the ray skin is shown in the graduated lumps towards the top on the outer side: these are from the top of the spine of the Overray.that is a twisted silk string wrapping whose open pattern further assists the swordsman’s grip. Under the wrapping are two menuki - one each side, offset to further enhance the grip. The blossom theme is repeated in their design.

At the throat of the scabbard, at its bottom end, and on the curved raised piece to which the silk waist cord is attached, the matching shibuichi fittings repeat the blossom and silver line imagery. The habaki

The final feature is the gold covered habaki (collar) that holds the blade firmly against the tsuba and the hilt. This is made from copper to fit the shape of the sword, carefully overlaid with a sheet of solid gold, and then inscribed with a special pattern to roughen the parts which hold the sword inside the top of the scabbard. The Japanese name of this diagonal pattern is ‘cat-scratching’ (if you have ever lived with a cat, you will know why), and is hand done. A high quality habaki like this on a sword is a good indicator of a fine quality blade.

1. There are literally hundreds of reference books on Japanese swords. Readers interested in learning more would do well to join the online forum Nihonto Message Board at https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/ index.php

Summary Japanese sword collectors tend to split into two main groups - blade collectors and fittings collectors.

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References

2. Samurai Swords, a Collector’s Guide, by Clive Sinclaire, Chartwell Books 2009 3. The Japanese Sword, by Kanzan Sato, Kodansha 1983 4. The Arts and Crafts of the Japanese Sword, B W Robinson, Faber 1961 5. The Connoisseur’s Book of Japanese Swords, by Kokan Nagayama, Kodansha 1997 of year

In the middle are those that seek out swords that combine good blades with original matched furniture, particularly examples of the type of sword a samurai may have worn hundreds of years ago. This sword fits nicely into that category.

By Brad Manera. Senior Historian / Curator Anzac Memorial

Bell top Shako c1840. These shakos were worn by British troops in the Australian colonies through the 1830s and in Afghanistan during the First AngloAfghan War 1839–1842. Brad Manera

Britishcollectioncampaign medal Kabul September 1842.

The veranda of the 1845 Enrolled Pensioner Barracks at Kojonup is a pleasant place to spend a summer’s afternoon in the Western Australian wheatbelt. In 1989, on a visit to the local museum that now occupies the barracks, I sat with local farmer and historical society member, Robert Sexton, as we contemplated the medal awarded to Corporal John Robinson. The barracks had been Robinson’s home and post 130 years earlier. The medal was embossed with the word “CABUL 1842”. Robinson, a Dubliner, had fought in Afghanistan with the 9th Regiment of Foot through the late Summer of 1842. 10 years later, and after 21 years in the British Army, he came to Western Australia as a convict guard and was sent to the tiny outpost at Kojonup. As Sexton and I contemplated Robinson’s medal we wondered at the stories that Robinson and his comrades, fellow veterans of the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842), would have shared on that veranda. Sexton included anecdotes from his own time in the Australian Army. He had been conscripted from the farm into the Royal Australian Regiment and seen some of the most intense fighting experienced by Australians in the Vietnam War. Sexton had survived Operation Cockburn, during Tet ’68, and the defence of Fire-base Coral. Typically, his stories were about some of the lighter moments. We wondered what Corporal Robinson would have made of the fate of Russians fighting in Afghanistan at that time. In over three decades since that conversation I have reflected much about the power of objects to tell stories, to freeze a moment in time, and invite us to think about the experience of those who have seen the face of battle and returned to families and loved

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In over three decades since that conversation I have reflected much about the power of objects to tell stories.

Australians Afghanistanin 1839 - 2021

ones. Men and women who have lived long and full lives but revisit memories of trauma and war. With Afghanistan in the news on an hourly basis how do we, at the Anzac Memorial, fit this war into our story?

From 1830 to 1836 the 17th Regiment of Foot, young men largely recruited from Leicestershire in Britain, served in New South Wales and a settlement on the Brisbane River that would eventually become the colony of Queensland. Initially tasked with guarding convicts and providing garrisons in little outposts in the interior, the regiment was frequently called on to send detachments to sites of conflict with the indigenous population. In June 1835 Major William Croker led the Light Company of the regiment to the Hunter River to enforce colonial authority over the Guringai/Guringay people after the spearing of two stockmen. We can only wonder if Croker and his men remembered sunny summers in NSW as they froze and marched and fought their way through to Ghuznee and Khelat-I Gilzee in Afghanistan four years later. Fortunately for the former NSW residents of the 17th Regiment they did not suffer the fate of the 44th Regiment at Gandamak in January 1842. During the doomed winter retreat from Kabul the regiment fought a courageous rear-guard action in the hope of buying time for their mates and for the wives and children of the fleeing garrison to make it back to northern India. Despite the last stand of the 44th at Gandamak the entire column was wiped out, the garrison’s doctor, wounded and exhausted, the only British survivor to make it to Jalalabad. Nine members of the 44th, Captain James Souter, Sergeant Fair and seven other ranks, were wounded, captured and tortured after Gandamak. 170 years later the British Army named one of its bases in Helmand Province, Camp Souter. 150 km south-west of Gandamak, as the crow flies, is the village of Maiwand. On 27 July 1880, in a wide, dusty valley, scored by erosion gullies, near the Lock of an India Pattern Musket, 1793-1842. These guns armed British troops in the Australian colonies in the first decades of European settlement and in Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. The 44th used them at their last stand near Gandamak in 1842. Brad Manera collection village, a British Army found itself outnumbered ten to one by Afghan and Pashtun warriors, foot, horse and guns. Despite a gallant fighting withdrawal, the British force broke up and the infantry was annihilated piecemeal. Among the last to die were eleven officers and men of the 66th Regiment of Foot led by, Sydney born, 20-year-old Lieutenant Walter Rice Olivey. The regiment fought its way back to a garden, what Afghanistan veterans of the Australian Defence Force would now call a compound. When the cartridges ran out it is said that the young man from Sydney, wounded but with sword drawn and holding the Queen’s colour, led his men in a bayonet charge.

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The Graphic, Nov 6, 1880, page 437 British Foreign Service Helmet c1880. Khaki cloth covered helmets, made of cork pith, were worn by Lt Walter Olivey and the men of the 66th at the Battle of Maiwand. Brad Manera collection CAVALCADE

There is no memorial to Lt Olivey in his NSW birthplace, and neglect, in concert with the harsh Afghan climate, has long obliterated the battlefield where he and his regiment died, but his name is recorded on the plinth beneath the lion at Forbury Gardens, Reading UK, a monument to the men of the Berkshire Regiment who fell in the Second AngloAfghan War (1878-1880).

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Fortress above Qalat-e Gilzay from an Australian Army chinook by Cpl David Land, 5th Aviation Regiment. Brad Manera In That Rich Earth (Sydney. 2020) page 246

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Action and bullets of a Martini Henry rifle of the type used by the soldiers of the 66th at Maiwand, until the cartridges ran out. Brad Manera collection British Infantry Officer’s Sword, Pattern 1845, of the type carried by Lt Walter Olivey at Maiwand. Brad Manera collection

2022 Australians in Afganistan

DPDU ‘bush hat’ with neck flap, worn by a soldier from 6RAR, Afghanistan, 2010. Brad Manera collection CAVALCADE

Photograph by Brad Manera 21 August 2021 we mentored had a company named Maiwand. Our mentees enjoyed making this a point to British Mentors.” They followed in the footsteps of fighting men in Afghanistan that predate the conquest of Alexander.Perhaps we should conclude these musings where we began. Visitors to Kojonup up in 100 years’ time will still be able to see Cpl Robinson’s silver medal, awarded for his role in the capture of Kabul in 1842. The collection at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra will continue to preserve and present the muskets, swords and uniforms of Queen Victoria’s wars in Afghanistan. The transient materials of the 21st century however, the Kevlar, nylon and plastic Velcro, of the latest war, will deteriorate in a few decades and the Instagram generation has yet to produce a Rudyard Kipling. How will we remember the faces and the names of the men and women who fought this latest war? s

As we searched for photographs to complete the book, In That Rich Earth, that we hope explains the soil collected from 100 battlefields and set into the floor of the Hall of Service at the Anzac Memorial, guide and Afghanistan war veteran David Land shared the images he had taken from his position as a door gunner in a Chinook helicopter of C Company, 5th Aviation Regiment. The image that immediately grabbed my attention was that of the fortress of Qalāt. Despite the telecommunications towers erected by US technicians above the ancient fortress, that crowns the ridge at Qalāt-e Ġilzay, little has changed since the men of the 17th Regiment from NSW fought in its shadow in the Spring of 1842. David is not the only veteran of the war in Afghanistan to join the staff at the Anzac Memorial.

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Milan ‘Hooch’ Nettleton was an ANAOA (Afghan National Army, Officer Academy) Mentor in 201718. He notes that “the Afghan Kandak (Battalion)

The first keris is from Madura, which is an island off the north coast of Java. the blade makers, the empus, did not sign or date their work. So, it is perhaps best to use the Javanese system of blade classification which uses stylistic and material characters to place a blade in an historical or geographic context, (Tangguh). I acquired this keris over thirty years ago, and I think that the blade was made in the late 19th century. The hilt and sheath are more recent, although they came with the keris when I acquired it. This keris from Madura has 13 waves, and a pamor called trailing water weeds. I have included an illustration showing the name of features in the physical composition of the keris. These features are not present in every keris, that is up to the blade marker. However, on this one the greneng encompassing the rondah is well carved. So is the elephant trunk”, the kembang kacang on the other side of the base of the blade. There is also a prominent blumgangan. The depression at the blade base gripped between the thumb and forefinger. The scabbard is described as solo gayaman, or informal. The hilt sits in a silver mendak, the small cup between the blade and hilt. The scabbard and the hilt are made of a burl teak, kayu jati gambol. The scabbard is encased in a silver pendock. This oversheath, like the mendak is finely worked silver. These parts are valued not only for their intrinsic worth, but also for their contribution to the colour and harmony of the ensemble.

By Paul Duffy

1. 1. 2. 2. 20 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022

Keris

his second blade has 11 waves, is old and well made, showing a winged elephant carved at the kembang kacang. The carving of the rondah within the greneng is worn, but still delicate and well done. The ridge along the back of the blade (the ada ada) is well formed and is picked out in a lighter metal, probably nickel, and flows the point of the blade. The dress, the scabbard (wrongko) is in Ladrang or formal form. I assume it is aromatic sandalwood, taken horizontally from the crotch of a tree to accentuate the grain of the wood. The hilt is made of the same wood and is in planar form. The hilt is also finished to accentuate the beautiful grain of the wood. This hilt sits in a finely made silver mendok. The hilts on both keris are in planar form, and both have elaborated incised designs. These small mask like faces carved in the front of the hilt, once apparently a feature indicating rank. The planar handle has a long history. One former court handlemaker said his teacher had a record from Mataram (c 1586-1755, a Javanese Islamic Kingdom which later was a protectorate of Dutch East Indies), handed down among his court predecessors, which named at least two handle types, samban (with a wayang head, and tunggaksemi (old tree trunk sprouting anew), that today identify as planer type. Possibly the planar form is a highly abstracted I acquired the Madura keris over 30 years ago. Since then, I have learnt more about keris and life in I know these keris are in my house, with others, I am a collector living in Australia. I had to learn about keris. I enjoy having them in my house. I experience an inner warmth when I think about my keris collection. I experience this same feeling sometimes listening to music, Keith Jarratt playing the Koln in concert, or Dame Joan Sutherland with Luciano Pavarotti at the opening of the Sydney Opera House in 1985. These are artists who had special talents, they trained and developed these talents, Jarrett playing piano at the Kolnn concert, Sutherland and Pavarotti singing. They touch this feeling in me. It is the same with being able to understand a keris, we need the experience, knowledge and understanding that can be learnt, but then we need that special gift that permits us to move from the world that we see into the world that we feel.

Literature Ethnographic Arms & Armour Forum 1. 2. 2. RM S C AVAVAA LCALCL DE 202 2

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mixture of mainly saltpetre, charcoal and sulphur. This was unstable and difficult to use. The heavier sulphur separated from the lighter charcoal and got wet easily and clumped. During the first half of the 16th Century corned powder was developed, which overcame the problems of the earlier powder. Corned powder was made by wetting the charcoal saltpeter and sulphur and forming cakes, which were allowed to dry, then were ground up to create grains, or “corned” powder the ingredients then could not separate out.

According to Ray Riling, author of The Powder Flask Book, it is possible - but dangerously so - that the powder was carried in leather pouches and pockets until the first powder flask was developed in the 15th Century. The first flasks were probably hollowed out gourds or horns with a peg for a stopper.

PowderandKangarooLyrebirdFlasks

owder flasks w black 1.

Originally black powder was a simple mechanical

Powder flasks were originally created to carry black powder needed for use in the first true hand firearms developed in the middle 1300s.

By Paul Duffy

This article is about flasks of rifle size with two different representations of a kangaroo, a lyrebird and flora.

Made in England used in Australia

I wanted to find out if the diemaker at the flask factory could have had illustrations early in the 19th Century that could be used to make the dies for my flasks.When Captain Cook returned to London after the 1770 mission he took skins of animals he had collected on his trip to New Holland. There were also drawings of the landscapes and coastlines accurately drawn by the naval officers. Training apprentices to become good artists as well as good seamen was a standard commitment to which masters agreed in their indentures.

Flasks were then developed that met the needs of the new powder. The majority of the 19th Century mass produced flasks were made of metal, usually an alloy of copper and zinc, differing amounts leading to different colours of the flask. The flask could be plain, leather covered or decorated with simple to very fancy designs.Thisarticle is about flasks of rifle size with two different representations of a kangaroo, a lyrebird and flora. The flasks are not the highest quality and they do not have a maker’s name or stamp they are in used condition. The conundrum is where were they made. I cannot find evidence that they were made in Australia. Nor are they mentioned or illustrated in Ray Riling’s bible on powder flasks, published in 1953. Riling suggests, and I agree, “that it may be assumed that flasks, in this form were first produced between 1829-1833 by Sykes and Dixon, who also sold to the trade the parts used in manufacturing powder flasks, ie springs and tops.”

Cook’s first voyage of discovery lasted three years (1768-71}; it was the first British voyage devoted to scientific discovery. In 1772, George Stubbs, an English painter, who did not accompany Cook, captured the mystique of the country perfectly in his painting, The Kanguroo from New Holland. The painting was commissioned by the amateur naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, who accompanied Cook on the Endeavour. Banks was determined to establish his reputation, as a serious scientist, and Stubbs was the leading animal painter in Britain. Stubbs did not paint from live subjects. Instead, he had to rely on Banks’ descriptions, a few rough sketches, and a kangaroo skin which Stubbs either stuffed or inflated to gain a better understanding of the animal.

3. The Wonderful Kanguroo Broadside Handbill

2. George Stubbs, The Kangaroo from New Holland 1772, National Maritime Museum

When researching the origins of black powder, I read that the wetting agent was urine. And at the time disputes arose to the best urine to use. A wine drinker’s urine was favoured over a beer drinker’s but the best of all was from a wine-drinking bishop.

Eighteenth Century British society, especially in London became captivated by the kangaroo, not only out of scientific curiosity, but also because of its charm.

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In the December 2000 edition of Arms Cavalcade Tony Wood and I wrote a short article on these kangaroo and lyrebird flasks. At that time, I was not aware of an earlier article by the late Wallace Maynard in the June 1967 edition of Caps and Flints. The article, Powder flasks in Australia, illustrated one lyrebird flask and two kangaroo flasks. All three are identical to the flasks in this article. Wallace Maynard referred to an old broadsheet called “The Wonderful Kanguroo”. This broadsheet was distributed when these animals were first exhibited at Vauxhall Gardens in London in the 18th Century. London could not believe that such a ridiculously proportioned animal existed. I resolved to concentrate my research to find early illustrations of kangaroos and lyrebirds, rather than old catalogues from the flask makers. The State Library of NSW and the National Library of Australia have many early illustrations of kangaroos, although not as many of lyrebirds.

I have studied other illustrations notably “The Kanguroo”, an illustration from the voyage of Governor Philip to Botany Bay, published in 1817. I have read the article by Andrea Hope published in Artwork in Focus, October 10, 2018.

6. Sydney Parkinson, Kanguroo 1770 She has illustrated what is understood to be the first sketch of a kangaroo by a European, drawn by Sydney Parkinson who was a paid companion to Botanist, Joseph Banks, and a natural history and topographical painter. Included in his work from his time on the Endeavour are two small drawings of a kangaroo. He captured the image of this animal in these drawings. Unfortunately, like many crewmen on the Endeavour he contracted dysentery after visiting Batavia and died during the trip home at the young age of 26.

The other handbill is identical, except there is no wood engraving of a kangaroo. There is another old wood engraving of a female kangaroo facing left, again looking over her shoulder and with a joey in her pouch. These illustrations are from the collection of the Mitchell Library, associated with the State Library of NSW. They are titled “The Wonderful Kanguroo from Botany Bay”. The library records note that the wood engraving was not part of the original handbill. This was reproduced from the engraving in the scarce chapbook, Dangerous Voyage of Captain Bligh (published in Dublin in 1817), and based on the copper engraving in Phillip’s, Voyage to Botany Bay, published in 1789.

Cook took back to Britain several live kangaroos, all males. These animals were exhibited in London. There are two slightly different broadside handbills about this

5. “The Kanguroo” 1817

“Theexhibition:Wonderful Kanguroo, from Botany Bay the only one ever brought alive to Europe. Removed from the Hay-Market, and now exhibited at the Lyceum, in the Strand, from 8 O’clock in the morning till 8 inthe evening.”Onehandbill has a wood engraving of a kangaroo facing to the right but looking back over his shoulder. When I compare Stubbs’ kangaroo and the engravings, I can see a similarity in the drawing of the animal’s ears, head, body and tail. Although the artist who drew the female shows a kangaroo which lacks the elegance of those painted by John Lewin, but has captured the joey in the mother’s pouch.

24 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 Kangaroo & Lyrebird Powder Flasks

4. Wood Engraving of Female Kanguroo

We don’t know if Banks made these drawings available to George Stubbs when he was commissioned to paint “The Kanguroo from New Holland”.

I have illustrated another early engraving of a kangaroo, dated 1789, held by the State Library of Victoria. This doesn’t resemble the images on the flasks. These two oil paintings have been hanging for 200 years in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. It is not clear whether the paintings were donated in 1807 or later. But in 1816 the Museum’s conservator annotated the entries with the comment: “Painted in New South Wales” and in 1820 “Painted in New Holland from life showing them in their various natural attitudes”. The paintings do show a mob of kangaroos grazing in a paddock. The animals are wellThepainted.dominant kangaroo meme after live animals reached England was the Stubbs’ image of 1790. I think this can be seen from the wood engraving, when I compare these images with the kangaroos on the flasks, I cannot say that the flask images are based on the Stubbs’ painting, nor the Lewin paintings. The flask images are poor ones, the kangaroo is not well represented. What I can say is that Captain James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks brought back specimens of kangaroos which caught the attention of society in London.

8. John Lewin Kangaroos, Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London

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The oldest one, a token for an Exhibition of animals by T Hall, London is dated 1795. This token is in the collection of the State Library of NSW. The earliest depictions of kangaroos on numismatic pieces are on English tokens struck during the reign of George II (17601820). During this period low-value copper trade tokens were produced in large quantities to fill a gap in the currency, as the supply of official coins was insufficient for small scale transactions.

There are other examples of kangaroo iconography from the early 19th Century in Britain which show interest in Australian fauna. I read Australasian Tokens and Coins by Dr Arthur Andrew (1921), which illustrates two tokens from Tasmania with an emu and a kangaroo on the obverse side dated 1855. However, I was intrigued to find by searching in English records that kangaroos were very popular with makers of English tokens from very early in the 19th Century.

7. A Kangaroo 1789 State Library Victoria

I read a well-researched article, The Conundrum of the London Kangaroos by Sue Rabbitt Roff published in September 2020. This article deals with two small paintings representing kangaroos in their native wild state. Painted in New South Wales, these paintings have been attributed to John Lewin who arrived in the colony in 1800.

Half Penny Token 1801 12. 1823 MacIntosh and Degraves Shilling 13. A copper, halfpenny token minted by the Kangaroo Office of Melbourne, circa 1851

26 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 Kangaroo & Lyrebird Powder Flasks

9. Tasmania with Emu & Kangaroo 185510. Token for an Exhibition of Animals 1795 Thomas Hall

I have found a copper half penny token, undated but issued in 1801. {29 mm in diameter). This was issued for the Pidcock Exhibition. Pidcock was another showman who travelled around the English midlands until 1783, when he purchased Thomas Clark’s facilities at Exeter, Change in The Strand. By 1799 he is reputed to have imported a pair of kangaroos from New Holland. A joey and this half penny token were the result of this union. The tokens were manufactured by William Lutwych in Birmingham; the engraving was the work of Charles James (note the “j” under the kangaroo’s tail). This token offers a very early representation of a kangaroo, the animal first introduced to European audiences through the George Stubbs’ painting in 1772. Although the engraver has given us a female animal with a joey in its pouch. This is similar to the second wood engraving of the female kangaroo illustrated earlier with the handbill of “The Wonderful Kanguroo from Botany Bay”. The first Australian coin or token to feature a kangaroo was produced in 1851, whereas Pidcock’s token was issued 50 years earlier in England.

11. Pidcock Exhibition

Thomas Hall, a taxidermist, and showman had a display of stuffed birds and animals as well as live curiosities. As well as having premises in London, his show travelled around the counties. His tokens were used as trade tickets to advertise his business.

The token is 3 cm in diameter, probably made of copper, for T Hall of Citty (ie City) Road London. The front of the token is inscribed “T Hall Citty Road near Finsbury Square London 1795”, with the rim inscribed “The first artist in Europe for preserving bird beasts”. On the reverse of the token is depicted a kangaroo (inscribed “The Kangaroo”) an armadillo (inscribed “The Armadillo”) and a rhinoceros (inscribed “The Rhinoceros”).

Hugh McIntosh and Peter Degraves sailed from England to Hobart Town in 1824 to build a sawmill. Before leaving they financed the striking of Tasmania’s first one shilling emblazoned with a kangaroo and the name “Tasmania”.

The first recorded sighting was in 1798 by John Price, who shot two birds. He described them as pheasants, but with tails which resembled a peacock with long feathers, which are white, orange and lead colour and black at the ends. In 1798 the first superb lyrebird skins collected from the Sydney region were sent to England. The bird was then known as a “Mountain Pheasant or sometimes a Lyretail”.

The first sighting of a superb lyrebird was in 1797 by an ex-convict who lived with Aboriginals after his term expired in 1792.

There is another English one shilling token which features a male kangaroo looking over his shoulder, and dated 1823. This was the first item of Australian decorative art to feature the word “Tasmania”. The Macintosh and Degraves’ silver shilling is the first tradesmen’s token manufactured for use by Australia.

These two men, and their families changed the course of Australia’s history for by 1834 they had built two mills, founded the Cascade Brewery that today is Australia’s oldest continually operating brewery. They spearheaded the establishment of Australia’s oldest theatre, the Theatre Royal in central Hobart. The shilling token is thought to have been struck at Boulton’s Soho Mint prior to October 1821. The odd thing is that the shilling tokens were never issued. McIntosh died in 1834, and his estate passed to his family. Degraves had trouble with creditors in England and in Hobart so the tokens may have been seized by the Crown or creditors and not released for many years. The style of the kangaroo on the reverse of the MacIntosh token is different in a number of ways to reality.The ears and snout are more like a dog than a kangaroo. The shoulders appear small and rounded, and the hind legs are almost like those of a sedentary animal. But these are the characteristics common to the way kangaroos were depicted in Britain in the early 19th Century.George Stubbs’ kangaroo is not a perfect representation either. The small paintings by John Lewin are much better. The representation of the kangaroo on the powder flasks are not good. The shoulders and hind legs and tail are not those of a strong kangaroo. By the mid-19th Century the kangaroo, often with an emu is seen on tokens manufactured in Australia, and used in Australia.

A lyrebird specimen was shipped to England in the early 19th Century and was prepared for display at the British Museum by a taxidermist who had never seen a live lyrebird. The taxidermist mistakenly thought that the tail would resemble a lyre. He assumed the tail would be held upright in a similar way to that of a peacock during courtship display and so he arranged the feathers in this way.

In the Museums Victoria Collections is a copper, halfpenny token minted by the Kangaroo Office of Melbourne, circa 1851, using dies manufactured by WJ Taylor in London. This is a copper trade token, 28 mm in diameter. The obverse description is a kangaroo seated on his tail in a grassy field facing right, around above, MELBOURNE; in exergue in four lines, LI TAYLOR MEDALLIST TO THE GREAT EXHIBITION 1851. The Reverse Description, Australia seated on rock facing left holding an olive branch extended in her right hand and resting a staff on her left forearm, above the word AUSTRALIA. By this time the animal was portrayed as a strong wellmuscled quadruped. Quite different to the earlier images, including the images on the powder flasks. This leaves me thinking that the images on the powder flasks were made early in the 19th Century and made for export to the Australian market. A low-cost flask available for sale in Australia, or in London to people contemplating sailing to Australia.Myresearch has taken me along interesting roads. The history of coins and tokens in numismatics led me to old images of kangaroos and interesting stories of Australian history. I tried researching lyrebirds the same way. I couldn’t’ find any lyrebirds in the numismatic pages, but I did find an interesting article, Lyrebird Painting Mystery by Valerie Fowler (Yarra Valley Newsletter, V29 number 4 December 2020. Birdlife). Valerie Fowler was seeking the artist or source of the wall paintings in the Bukovac House in the village of Caxtat, 16k South of Dubrovnik in Croatia. The painter Viaho Bukovac (born 1855), travelled to Peru, San Francisco, and Europe before returning home. It is thought that he decorated the walls of his childhood home at Agelle, most likely after his return from America and before leaving to study in Paris. Some paintings depicted animals that were considered exotic for that time, such as rhinoceros, crocodiles, anteaters, and the superb lyrebird.

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14. Bukovic Lyrebird painted in Croatia

Joseph Banks’ collector, George Caley, kept company with a convict woman named Margaret Catchpole, a resident of the Hawkesbury district. In 1807 Margaret Catchpole sent to her former employer Mrs Cubbold a pair of stuffed lyrebirds. Mrs Cubbolds’ son in 1845 wrote a book using letters sent to his mother from the lady from the Hawkesbury River. The book became a best seller. The 1808 Freycinet’s Atlas included Carte Genera le de la Terre Napoleon, a la Novelle Hollande. This depicted Baudins discoveries in South Australian waters. And the bottom corner of the map features a parrot, a cockatoo, an emu and a lyrebird with its wings extended.JohnLewin was the first professional artiest to arrive in the colony. He trained in natural history16.

Major General Thomas Davies, a British army officer and naturalist, gave a scientific description of “Menura Superba, a bird of New South Wales” to the Linnean Society. He studied a specimen of a male lyrebird for his illustration dated 1799 and published in 1802. John Latham was another leading English ornithologist, often known as the “Grandfather of Australia” provided the first publicised description and scientific names of many Australian birds, including the “Lyre-bird”. Latham did not travel much, but the period of his ornithological work coincided with the voyages of Captain James Cook and the early colonisation of Australia.Another early illustration from An Account of the English colony of New South Wales from its first settlement in January 1788 to August 1801 is shown. This book was published in 1804 and is now in the rare book collection of the Museum of Victoria.

15. 28 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 Kangaroo & Lyrebird Powder Flasks

On 4 November 1800

illustration and print making. An 1810 painting by John Lewin features a male lyrebird with its body tilted slightly upwards looking back towards its tail, which is displayed in a stiff upright position with the two lyrate feathers held apart near the outside edge with the tips curledJohnoutwards.Lewinpublished his works in a book, “Birds of New Holland and followed this with Birds of New South Wales in 1808. John Gould sailed to Australia in 1838, staying for two years. However before leaving England he trained at the Royal Gardens, Windsor Castle and became an expert in taxidermy. In 1827 his skill helped him to become the first curator and preserver at the Museum of the Zoological Society of London. This brought him into contact with the country’s leading naturalists. John Gould’s early 1800’s picture of a lyrebird was a Superb Lyrebird specimen at the British Museum. He had not seen a live bird at that time. The experts say that, unfortunately the tail in the display is not accurate in his painting, which was included in his book “The Birds of Australia 1840-48”. This book was produced after his visit to Australia in 1838. He stayed for two years leaving Sydney in April 1840.The lyrebird on the powder flasks is not a perfect picture of the bird, however I can see a similarity between the head and body with some of these early engravings, while the tail feathers rise up the flask in the manner similar to the way the feathers painted by Lewin and engraved by Elizabeth Gould in the lithograph she produced of her husband’s painting. The tops of two lyrebird flasks have the word PATENT stamped on them. I have reproduced a page from the Power Flask book headed:

NOMENCLATURE of the 19th Century CONVENTIONAL FLASK remained there until his death in 1840. In addition to other optical instruments, Cutts manufactured metal instrument such as knives, powder flasks and liquor flasks. An advertisement from, 1834 survives and is illustrated. I note the mention of: “POWDER FLASKS, SHOT BELTS, POCKET LIQUOR BOTTLES ETC”

The flasks with the kangaroo on the neck of the flasks were identified by Wallace Maynard in his 1967 article as being “shell and bush type” flasks, identical to flask #361 in Ryling’s book. I agree, and in the middle on the shell is a bird with a long tail, possible a pheasant. Both my flasks have replacement tops, and there is no reference to the I P Cutts Patent. Flask #361 has a screw off top with an inside or secret spring, and they have been replaced with common or fast plain tops. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. This page illustrates various charges, tops, springs and cutters. Both the lyrebird flask tops have what Sykes calls “Fireproof with outside springs, possibly the early type outside “spring, with Common Cutters with Thumbpiece.Thesetops stamped, PATENT are similar to the tops numbered 64 and 65 by Sykes. They have 2 screws in similar positions and the word PATENT is a similar style to those illustrated by Sykes. Flask #66 is stamped I P CUTTS PATENT, and #67 stamped PATENT. The flask numbers are taken from Rilings book. John Preston Cutts was born in Leeds in 1878. His earliest known business address is 58 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, recorded in an 1822 city directory. Around 1828 he moved the business (manufacturing microscopes, other optical apparatus, razors, nautical equipment) to Division Street Sheffield, and he

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Kate Gadsby in her recent book, Convicts, Capitalist and Corruption, Nubrygyn and the Colony’s settlement west of the Great Divide, has written a captivating history of the pioneers who established the early settlement west of the Great Divide. She centres her book around the first settlers at Nubrygyn, Bathurst and the Wellington Valley convict settlement.NSWatthat time was controlled by regiments of the British Army in Sydney and small police units in the country areas. They did not have flasks, but the settlors did. As Kate Gadsby writes of life in the 1830s “Broad black leather belts accompanied their attire and many had a brace of pistols stuck to their sides”. “Like most in the bush, the gentlemen had either pistols at their sides or a gun in their hands”. The discovery of gold in 1851 in a waterhole near Bathurst brought more people and more bushrangers to the country areas, and all needed a gun, powder flask and ammunition.

22.

30 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 Kangaroo & Lyrebird Powder Flasks

As I have explained, New Holland or Australia had captivated Great Britain. “The Kanguroo”, the lyrebird, and other flora and fauna examples taken back to London introduced a new land, a new life.

George Stubbs’ painting of the kangaroo a “ridiculously proportioned animal”, the broadside handbill which I do think was inspired by Stubbs’ painting.

I am grateful to Andrea Hope for her article in Artwork in Focus, and to Sue Rabbitt Roff for her article in The Rabbitt Review, attributing the paintings of kangaroos in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London to John Lewin prior to 1807. The image of a kangaroo is also shown on early tokens and coins manufactured in Great Britain in the early 19th Century. The token for an Exhibition of Animals by T Hall, dated 1795 the Pidcock copper half penny issued in 1801. The Macintosh and Degraves shilling dated 1823. The lyrebird does not feature as much as the kangaroo. I am grateful also to Vallerie Fowler for her article in the Yarra Valley Newsletter. She has summarised the history of sightings and illustrations of the lyrebird, down to the John Lewis and John Gould’s illustrations in the early 19th Century. I also read the catalogue prepared by Terrence Lane which accompanied the 1980 exhibition “The Kangaroo in the Decorative Arts” at the National Gallery of Victoria. Another excellent publication, focusing on decorative One thing I remember about all manufactured mass-produced things that we collect is that they are assembled from bins of parts used across the board in all their flasks of similar size and configuration. The jigs and fixtures used would be horrendously expensive to make them unique for these Australian themed flasks. Also, as Riling notes, Sheffield and London makers designed tops of their flasks with a dome like bottom as per figure 1. Figure 2 shows a Birmingham top with a flat bottom. Both lyrebird flasks and the tinned kangaroo flask have Figure 1 dome type tops. I cannot find catalogues or illustrations of flasks retailed by Cutts. There is evidence of the manufacture of flasks by Sykes in the early 19th Century. James Dixon started in 1804 and to quote Riling “That it may be assumed that flasks were first produced between 1829-1833” and a further quote “The reader will readily note that Frith on page 1 of this catalogue shows a patent charger of mention practically identical to the Sykes charger of mention.

The only Frith catalogue viewed by the author was printed on paper bearing a watermark of 1830. This was the only clue given for an approximate dating. It may be recalled that Sykes claimed that his competitors had not only copied his patents, but also his pattern books (catalogues).”Incomparing the reproductions from the Sykes and Frith catalogues, one will no doubt recognise a marked similarity in features of design of the products shown as well as in the style and format of the advertising, lending colour and substance to the Sykes’ claim and nullifying any generous presumption of possible coincidence and Frith advertised that “patent tops may be had to fit any specimen of flask shown in his catalogue”. I have no doubt that retailers such as Frith and Cutts were stocking flasks made by Sykes and Dixon who had set up the expensive jigs and fixtures to manufacture all parts of powder flasks. Riling illustrates a catalogue dated 1830 from R Frith. Powder flasks in England and France were not sold to the military forces, who relied on prepared or rolled charges. The market was for nonmilitary or hunters. And in the early 19th Century people from England were sailing to New Holland to Australia, where there was a demand for powder flasks. 23.

Duffy Artwork in

Kangaroo and Lyrebird Flasks - Illustrations 1. Kangaroo and Lyrebird flasks 2. Stubbs - painting of a Kangaroo 3. Broadside handbill with engraving 4. 2” handbill with no engraving and Separate engraving of female kangaroo 5. The Kanguroo - an illustration from Governor Phillip 1817 Wikimedia Common 6. Parkinson illustration 1770 7. State Library Vic engraving of a Kangaroo 1789 8. John Lewin Kangaroo paintings 9. Tasmanian Token 1855. 10. Token Kangaroo 1795. 11. Pidcock Token 1801. 12. Token MacIntosh and Degraves shilling 1823 13. Token - Kangaroo office Melbourne 1854 L.J. Taylor. 14. Bukovic Lyrebird. 15. Davies 1802 Manura Superb Lyrebird 16. John Latham 1801 Superb Manura Lyrebird 17. Superb Lyrebird 1804. 18. Lewin Lyrebird 19. Gould Lyrebird 20. Nomenclature of the 19th Century. Conventional Flask 21. I.P. Cutts, advertisement 22. Tinned kangaroo powder flask, Cowans Auction November 2017 23. Roly Martin Kangaroo Flask POWDER FLASK ARTICLE REFERENCES

Powder Flasks in

- December

The Conundrum of the London Kangaroos by Sue Rabbitt Roff, September 25 2020, Pearls & Irritations, John Menadue’s Public Policy Journal Tokens & Coins by Dr Arthur Andrews 1921 Lyrebird Painting Mystery by Valerie Fowler. Yarra Valley Newsletter, V29, 4 December 2020 Birdlife Convicts Capitalists and Corruption, Newbrygn and the Colony’s settlement west of the Great Divide by Kate Gadsby The Kangaroo in Decorative Arts, catalogue by Terrence Lane of exhibition at National Gallery of Victoria 1980 Endeavouring Banks, Exploring Collections from the Endeavour Voyage, 1768-1771, by Neil Chambers

The Powder Flask Ray Riling Australia by Wallace Cavalcade 2000 by Tony Wood and Paul Focus Sydney by Andrea Hope in Australian

Australasian

I have found one other example of a tinned kangaroo flask. This flask has the kangaroo on the neck of the flask. It was lot 490 in an auction by Cowan’s Auctions in November 2017. The tops of these flasks are similar. Although the tops of the lyrebird flasks have “PATENT” stamped on them. The animal is definitely a kangaroo, facing left and looking back over his left shoulder. I have wondered why the kangaroos are looking back - I really don’t know. Most kangaroos I come across look straight at me.Inmy opinion these flasks were designed, and all the parts made in Sheffield, England probably by Sykes or Dixon. These parts were acquired by Cutts & Frith who assembled the flasks for the Australian market. I have not been able to find any of these flasks in collections in England.Iwishto thank Adrian Rhodes for referring me to the article by Wallace Maynard in the 1967 edition of Caps & Flints.Wallacee

Parkinson, Kangaroo 1770

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Maynard, Caps & Flints, June 1967 Arms

Roly Martin of Australian Arms Auctions in Melbourne is identical to the two similar flasks in my collection they show the kangaroo facing right, and looking back over his shoulder. All flasks also show a bird with a long tail in the middle of the bottom section. Possibly this is a representation of a lyrebird.

by

arts, which included a powder horn c 1860, although no powder flasks. Item 1 in this exhibition was a snuff box with an engraved kangaroo. This work is dated c1808 and attributed to B Soully, probably Australian. Item 2 is an earthenware mug, with a “Kanguroo” printed on one side. This is attributed to the early 19th Century, English Staffordshire. The prints are attributed to Thomas Bewick’s, “The General History of Quadrupeds, London 1790”. The lyrebird is not mentioned in this exhibition at the NGV. The lyrebird had been left in the dust by the emu by the mid-19th Century. Since completing the first draft of this article I was given a book published in 2016, “Endeavouring Banks, Exploring Collections from The Endeavour Voyage, 17681771”, by Neil Chambers. There is an excellent chapter in this book “The Kanguroo from New Holland” where Neil Chambers“Reproductionswrites: of the Stubbs’ image was steadily corrected once further information and specimens arrived in England, and for many years it remained the basis for numerous printed kangaroo illustrations, indeed more than a hundred different engraved versions of it have been identified in a range of literature up to the midnineteenth century, and its likeness has been adapted for flags, stamped, coins and medals.” I would add “powder flasks” to that list. Although lyrebirds are not mentioned in his book. I have illustrated another flask with a kangaroo stamped on the neck of the flask. This flask, owned by

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Art History

George William Bales

A GunmakerRegional

By John Newton

Once, when Clay Target Clubs hosted vintage side by side shotgun competitions, the participants would take the opportunity to chat with like-minded enthusiasts about their treasured heirlooms and other old guns which had stimulated their interests. Some clubs also awarded prizes for the most original or best restored vintage guns. Invariably the majority of the firearms discussed would be those of the historically wellknown makers from the “gun quarters” of London, Birmingham and Edinburgh - Purdy, Rigby. Alexander Henry, W&C Scott, Lang, Hollis, Cashmore, Greener, Boswell etc. It was not so often that the name of a regional gunmaker would be added to the mix. This was certainly not because the regional guns were of inferior quality- many were exceptional- but

I had never seen a gun made by George William Bales of Ipswich and Colchester. It took the untimely passing of one of our society’s members, for a Bales gun to surface. out of the larger cities. Even now, at the vintage gun auctions, it is the London makers’ guns which get preferential respect over their regional cousins.

Diggory Hadoke, author of several books and editor of the “Vintage Gun Journal” sums up the fallacy with - “Excellent quality does not need a LondonHavingaddress”.attended and sponsored quite a few side x side competitions over the years, I have never seen, until recently, a gun made by George William Bales of Ipswich and Colchester. It took the untimely passing of one of our society’s members, Greg Osborne, for a G.W. Bales gun to surface. Greg was a true ‘Bushy’ who loved his old guns. He was an exceptional shot and his name often featured in the lists of successful

Holts and Bonhams auction houses have been useful, as both companies have put a small number of Bales firearms up for auction over the years.

Unfortunately, apart from a few dates and workshop addresses, there is little detailed information about G.W. Bales. A more extensive historical perspective has come from perusing past auction catalogues.

When researching old shotguns, the first reference utilised is ‘Nigel Brown’s books -“British Gunmakers” Vols 1, 2 and 3. Next would be Geoffrey Boothroyd’s publication- “Sidelocks and Boxlocks- The Classic British Shotguns”. Any of the books produced by Diggory Hadoke would also be essential reading.

Being a scarce 14 gauge, his old BALES gun was not suitable for clay target shooting, particularly as cartridges in 14-gauge are extremely difficult to acquire, and being made for black powder in 1866, the gun deserves respect for its age.

Prior to Greg’s acquisition, the old Bales had spent many years stored on rural properties around Blayney and Garland, NSW. The days of it knocking over the occasional hare or rabbit or a brace of ducks was long ago. Although, it is still as tight and functional as it always has Fortunately,been.the tired old oak and leather gun case has done its job in protecting the piece, and the accoutrements, over the past 150+ years.

John Newton, Cameron Malouf and Michele Rose. d G.W.B

34 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 A Regional Gun Maker

These searches have indicated that the majority of G.W. Bales items auctioned have been percussion firearms-all very good quality and all realising impressive prices. A notable Bales auction listing was a cased pair of percussion target pistols circa 1840 (as photographed).Anumberofregional gunmakers are listed as having their operations in Ipswich and Colchester, including three generations of the Bales family.

Frank Bales, George’s son, continued the family heritage in Colchester after George died in 1881. For almost a century, successive members of the Bales family had been involved in the gun trade-from flintlock, to percussion, to breech loading shotguns andThererifles.were also a G. Bales and C.G.Bales, gunmakers, in Durban, South Africa, possibly related to George William Bales.

The first, Henry Bales, father of George and John, set up a small factory in The Cornhill, Ipswich, Suffolk in 1814. He moved to Colchester in 1825. A flintlock pistol named to him has come up at auction and is dated to 1820. Little else is recorded about Henry Bales.His son, George William Bales, took over the business after his father’s death in 1835. In 1838 George was recorded in the census as operating in Tavern Street, Ipswich and seven years later in 1845 he worked from 15 The Cornhill, Ipswich, where he also traded as an archery warehouse specialising in bows. By 1850 G.W. Bales was recorded in the census, as operating from 150 High Street, Colchester. His workshop employed four men, two apprentices and a boy. The Ipswich shop appears to have been closed or changed hands by 1870.

Acknowledgments

It is a sad fact that it often takes the passing of a fellow collector for once closely held firearms to come to the attention of other collectors. Greg Osborne’s collection, as the law requires, has been distributed to numerous licenced beneficiaries. The old G.W.Bales 14 gauge is in very appreciative hands.

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The Dwellers’Cave Club Part 3

Mr Anderson had been a prominent local business man and philanthropist, supporting The Crippled Children’s Society, and the RSPCA and other worthy causes A representative from each Crippled Children’s Society and the RSPCA also attended the sad event. There were also at least four of the remaining members of the fabled Cave Dwellers’ Club, of which “Old Pete” was the founding secretary and all were there to farewell their old friend. Campbell Hinman, Stanley Button, Hugo von Stieglitz and Colonel “Old Pete” test-firing his “Race Starting” percussion pistol

By Geoff Pogson

On the 7th of February 1952, a funeral service was conducted for a well-known and highly respected citizen of Launceston, Peter Anderson. Those bearing the casket into the chapel at the Crematorium were four serving members of the City of Launceston Police force, all long-time friends of the old gentleman, who had died at the age of 89. There were also leading figures of the Launceston Civic group, the Mayor, Alderman Thyne, and Police Inspector Bourke.

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There was an interval from 1890 until 1895 when Peter was working in the drapery and furniture business in the newly started furniture department of David Jones Store, in Sydney, where he rose to a position directing the furniture section. On returning to Launceston Peter resumed work in the furnishing and drapery business, in an arrangement with a John Tait at the 58 George Street address in the business area of the city, beginning a long association with that sameWhileaddress.MrTait ran, first, a hair dressing business in the front shop, the rear was turned into the furniture and drapery area, managed by Mr Anderson. At a later stage the shop-front became Mr Tait’s Real Estate office. Later John Tait re-joined Peter Anderson in the Furniture store, until in 1903 he left and Peter Anderson became the sole proprietor that we were able to find. However he became a very successful purveyor of furniture and drapery, and also advised clients on furniture selection and interior decoration, as he built a reputation for reliability and expertise

Peter Anderson at home, with some of his collection on show

Geoffrey Youl, were quite possibly, the last of the members of the Cave Dwellers Club still living, and it is doubtful if the group were still actively carrying on club attendances, so it was probably, by this time, a club in name only. It was the sad end of a great Era. Peter Anderson was born in Denmark in 1863, left home at age 22, as far as can be ascertained, and might possibly have worked his passage on a ship bound for the Argentine, which was then a very progressive place with a huge economy built on beef, timber and mineral wealth. There was plenty of work to be had, and it was just the place for a young man to try to make his fortune. It is said he was in South America for five years, working on cattle stations as a gaucho, or cowboy. Peter also spent some years “at sea in sailing ships” and I have found several notations of sailors by his name, and all Danish, on visits to Sydney from the far north Queensland in the 1880’s on three different ships. He was ashore in Sydney in 1890, arriving on the ship “Wendouree” from Hobart, Tasmania On the 4th of June 1890 of that year, he was listed as a Fireman in the crew, but in his certificate of naturalisation on 26 April 1898, his stated occupation was Labourer and that he had lived in the NSW since 1890. There are also many traces of Peter in Tasmania in the 1880s working as an assistant and later manager of the Furniture Department of Dempster & Pearce, in Launceston. 0n the 3rd September 1888, the Launceston Examiner reported that a Tasmanian exhibit to be shown at the Great Centennial Exhibition celebrating the Century since the Settlement of Australia, was leaving, that day, by ship for Melbourne. The exhibit, one of many in the Tasmanian enclosure, was a massive and highly decorated wardrobe, constructed from the many and varied Tasmanian timbers, carefully worked and assembled by the cabinet makers of Messrs Dempster and Pearce. Praise went to the firm and the foreman, Mr Anderson, and his staff

All through his life and early travels the small collection of firearms and other weapons had been gradually increasing and, as he prospered, he bought a small house on the western shore of the Tamar River, to the north of Launceston It was at “Old Pete’s” home in Delamere Crescent Trevallyn that the” foundation” meeting of the club was held in the early 1920’s, although the members at the meeting were all well known to each other since at least the 1880’s. Peter had moved there sometime in 1922 and the usual crowd had gathered at “The Shack” as Peter referred to it, for a convivial evening. The story goes that, as the sun set and the eastern bank of the Tamar darkened, the growing flicker from kerosene lamps was suggestive of many little camps on the far shore.

In September, 1926 Peter Anderson gave an address to a Launceston Rotary Club Luncheon, the subject of which was the collection, care and study of Firearms and Swords both Antique and Modern and the safe handling of all such items.

This is the earliest example of Peter’s first advertisements on the choice and arrangement of new furnishings, building, in the process, a sound, reliable and growing business.

On display were several weapons from the various stages of the development of arms, including a Spanish flintlock, an English, Queen Ann cannon barrelled pistol and early pinfire cartridge revolver as well as the then modern Remington and Colt cartridge revolvers, including his prized Colt .45 Pistol, once owned by renowned author, Jack London. It is said that the guest ‘s audience was well entertained for two or three hours, by his wide knowledge and easily understood explanations of his favourite subject and an extensive summary was published in the Launceston “The Shack” Peter Anderson’s home from 1922, taken 1941. A rare Spanish pistol of 1845. An English flintlock of 1750. newspapers. The collection that Peter had, at the “The Shack” in Trevallyn was stated to number “125 arms of various types” and at some point, his journalist friend and a photographer put together an article which appeared in a PIX magazine of 26 April 1941.

ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 37

Lance Archer reputedly suggested that “They must be Troglodytes”, much to the amusement of those there gathered, but they played with it and finally the “Cave Dwellers’ Club” came into being, even though the group of friends had existed for many years previously but with no official title Many meetings of the CD Club were held at the Trevallyn address, with members bringing new acquisitions to show and discuss, at other times there might have been some buy, sell and swap nights as well, as in our own society. Other meetings were also held at other members’ houses to view other collections, and probably many aspects of arms collecting were brought out for discussion and learned advice.

“Old Pete” with a favourite rifle and at work on Oiling Day

38 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 The Cave Dwellers Club

At one of the meetings held at Peter’s place, an accidental discharge of an “Unloaded” revolver resulted in one member being hospitalised, with a bullet in his abdomen and a visit from the local police, who judged the incident to be an unlucky accident with no charges considered. The incident was reported in the local newspapers, and was picked by the National News outlets appearing in the Sydney Morning Herald of 2nd September 1944 and also in a newspaper in Perth. Western Australia, citing a .38 pinfire revolver being examined by Geoffrey Youl, who was checking the action of the weapon when the discharge occurred, injuring a Mr Alexander Patterson Mitchell, aged about 50, the Assistant manager of Paton’s & Baldwin’s Ltd Knitting Mills Launceston.

The victim was in a serious condition, after surgery to remove a revolver bullet, in Launceston General Hospital. Mr Mitchell made a full recovery, and it is not known if he was a member or an invited guest to the ClubThemeeting.manholding the pistol was Colonel, Retired, G A.D. Youl, a former Captain, later Major in WW1. Born in Launceston in 1892, Geoffrey Arthur Douglas Youl was a soldier and a farmer, and as a lad attended the Launceston Grammar School, before going to England to serve as a cadet on a Royal Navy Training Ship HMS ‘Worcester’. When war broke out Geoffrey Youl joined the British Army as a Sub Lt, progressing to Captain, then Major by war’s end, also being highly decorated with the Military Cross and the Belgian Croix de Guerre. He was twice mentioned in dispatches Returning to Australia, Geoffrey Youl, was appointed as a Major with the 12th Battalion in 1936. Then in June 1938, he was appointed Lt Col of the 12/50th Battalion In July 1940 G A D Youl was promoted to Colonel of the newly formed 2/40 Battalion, mainly raised in Tasmania, which in 1941,. formed the bulk of the Australian part of the international “Sparrow Force”. He was the CO of this Unit throughout the initial training it Tasmania, later Bonegilla in Victoria, and later in the Northern territory, prior to the force being shipped to the Dutch East Indies and Timor.

Some of these photographs have appeared in other publications in the past. Much of the detail passed down was recorded in his Rotary Club outing, and the many interviews that Peter had with various journalists, and other occasional reports thought perhaps worth a few lines in the local papers on a burglary when a young lad broke and stole three old pistols and some ammunition, but was caught and charged after pointing a hand gun at his teacher. He was thought to have shot a dog. All the property was returned to Mr Anderson and the lad was dealt with and was, hopefully, reformed.

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Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey Arthur Douglas Youl M.C. Peter checks the sights on a large French Lefaucheux Pinfire Revolver, perhaps the one used in the preceding incident.

In November 1941, Lt Col Youl was replaced as O.I.C, 2/40th by Lt Col W Leggatt, “after some friction with 23rd Brigade C. O. Brigadier Lind, before the force set sail for the Dutch East Indies. Youl was later chosen as Officer Commanding Citizen forces in Tasmania, where he served out the rest of WW2. There was some uproar about the dismissal, detailed in a book, “Appointment Wrongfully Terminated,” by D M Wyatt , Lt Colonel Retired. Perhaps a further mention may appear later.

PIX Magazine cover in which Peter Anderson’s article appears dated April 26 1941

Peter met his end on 3rd February 1952, after being admitted to Hospital in Launceston, when he fell and broke a leg, the complications due to his advanced age leading to his demise. Having endeared himself to many residents of Launceston, by his good citizenship and community involvement over more than fifty years, the man was widely respected for his charitable acts and contributions to many worthy causes, including donations to the Food for Britain Fund. He funded a fully equipped Ambulance used by the Red Cross in New Guinea, while gifting 2000 pounds for the native porters with the Army, the “Fuzzie WuzzieThereAngels”willbe an indefinite pause in the story of the Cave Dwellers’ club, until further information comes to light. There must be many stories about other members still to be teased out of people’s memories and hopefully this little chapter might produce some more interesting thoughts to light. In the writing of this I have relied upon much assistance of Andrew Harvey who provided the correspondence between Peter Anderson and Robert Mason and family from the 1920s to the late 1940s. Andrew was also able to provide me with emailed copies of the “Pix” article and photos, obtained from a friend who owns a copy of the magazine. As always, my daughter Lynne was able to sift through reams of documentation to find early background on Pete Anderson and his movements in Tasmania and later NSW, then back to the Island State again. I had also been searching, finding some detail of this story as well. The search for background on Geoffrey Youl brought the book “Appointment Wrongfully Terminated” By D M Wyatt to light. This also. might possibly lead to a further mention in a possible next chapter when and if more additional information is to hand.

• Tanto - cutting edge up to 30.3cm The tachi was a cavalry sword, worn slung with its cutting edge downwards, whereas the other three swords were worn through a sash at the waist with their cutting edge upwards. The signature on a tachi will be on the right-hand side of the tang when the edge is downwards. All the others will be signed on the left-hand side.

A Beginner’s Guide

• Wakizashi - cutting edge more than 30.3cm

A pre-requisite to examining a sword is direct, strong light. Looking along the blade from either end there should be no dips in the surface, which would indicate that someone has removed metal to remove a deep patch of rust. If the surface is a flat plane for its full length, it has been polished by a professional.

• Katana - cutting edge more than 60.6cm

Bends in sword blades are not uncommon, but can be fixed by a trained polisher. However if a bend is extreme you may see fine wrinkling in the laminations of the sword - these are sometimes impossible to remove, so it is better to avoid them.

Sword condition For a sword buyer the key starting point is the overall condition of the blade, because if it is in good Japanese polish it’s features are easy to see. If it is somewhat stained and a bit rusty those features may be obscured, but there may still be a fine old blade beneath.Lightsurface rust or staining may look unsightly, but a trained polisher can remove it easily. Rusting only becomes unacceptable when it goes too deep for a polisher to remove it without taking too much metal off the whole sword. Heavy rusting and pitting are therefore best avoided.

Buying an Antique Japanese Sword

While there is an understandable preference amongst collectors for the longer swords, they are more expensive than their shorter counterparts in equivalent condition and quality. An aspiring collector who despairs of affording a nice katana might be very happy with an equivalent quality wakizashi that is 3040% cheaper. There is more to enjoy in a good sword than just its length.

By W T L Taylor

Features of the blade

These guidelines are a starting point for the aspiring Japanese sword collector. I have minimised using the many technical Japanese words applied to swords, as they may confuse and deter even the most enthusiastic beginner.

The polisher aims to highlight the shape and texture of the tempered area of the sword. Close examination with a magnifying glass will reveal the

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Please note that this article does not cover Japanese Army and Navy swords, which are a separate collecting category to antique swords. While it is true that antique blades can be found in 20th century military mounts, military swords will generally have blades that were made by modern smiths, or mass-produced factory blades made from a piece of steel, shaped and finished to look like a hand made sword.

Look for a sword that has a distinct character - that ‘speaks’ to you - for it will give greater pleasure in the long term than one that merely ticks the boxes.

Sword types There are four main types of Japanese sword:

• Tachi - cutting edge at least 60.6cm but usually much longer than a katana

The bane of sword collectors are enthusiastic DIY guys with wet-and-dry abrasives and steel wool who burnish a blade to a shine worthy of a chromed bumper bar, but in so doing remove details of its tempering and grain, and even degrade its shape. Sometimes they go so far that a professional Japanese sword polisher cannot restore the sword.

Blade geometry

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fine crystalline structures produced by tempering, particularly along the temper line (hamon), which is a significant element in the quality appraisal of theInsword.thearea above the temper line (the ji) the polisher will reveal the grain and forging pattern of the blade, created by the number of laminations and the particular process used by the smith in forging the blade. This is the jihada: the grain can be quite open and pronounced, or it can look as fine as silk. If you are examining a blade in very clean condition but you cannot see any tempering shape or any jihada, and cannot see small crystalline structures along the hamon, either walk away, or get advice from an experienced sword collector. Even if you think you can see these features, the sword may be one of the many modern Chinese copies that can be bought for a few hundred dollars on eBay. Some examples fake these features very convincingly to an untrained eye, so obtain advice if you are in doubt.

A sword blade in good polish has clean, sharp planes. Where they meet - such the cutting plane of the blade, the plane between it and the back edge, and the back edge itself - the lines should be sharp and should follow the curve precisely. At the top of the sword the fan shaped tip (kissaki) should be separated from the other planes by clear edges. The tempering inside it is called the boshi: its shape should curve around parallel to the cutting edge and (in most cases) turn back as it gets to the tip. In most wakizashis, there is no line in the polishing between the main part of the sword and the kissaki – the blade is a continuous curve to the tip. If you cannot see the boshi, or if it seems to disappear into the cutting edge before reaching the tip, the sword’s tip has been broken and reshaped. Don’t buy it. The tang and signature Older swords were often shortened, because swords made for cavalry fighting were too long for fighting on foot. A tachi originally of 85cms may have been reduced by as much as 15 cms. This means that Images: Andrew Ickeringill

• is anything missing?

Check the condition of the lacquer on the scabbard. Japanese lacquer is almost impossible to repair or replicate outside Japan, so missing bits or major damage are not desirable. Also look out for indicators that a DIY guy may have resprayed the scabbard with automotive lacquer.

Buying your first Japanese sword

Bits that rattle indicate that they are not original. Most commonly it is the tsuba that is a replacement, which the perpetrator had neither the wit nor the skill to fit properly to the blade. Even if it is not loose, the tsuba may be of poor quality or just seem wrong. This is usually because a previous owner wanted to keep the original tsuba for his fittings collection, and has replaced it with a less valuable piece. You can replace the incorrect tsuba with something that better matches the theme of the other fittings and the sword itself - but you need to do your homework, or seek advice from established collectors. As the price of a good tsuba will be hundreds of dollars, that needs to be reflected in the price you pay for the sword. If the hilt is loose on the blade it has been replaced, usually for some poor quality substitute with mediocre fittings. If you want to have a new hilt made that fits properly with nice antique fittings, be prepared for a huge bill as it can be done only by Ifspecialists.youfinda good sword with fine fittings, but the silk thread wrapping on the hilt is broken or missing, there are specialists in Australia who can undertake the job. If the menuki are missing because the wrap

A Japanese sword blade was usually kept in a plain wooden sheath called a shirasaya, separate to its mounts (koshirae). If you are interested only in Japanese sword blades and not their fittings, buying an antique sword in shirasaya has advantages. They are far more likely to be in full polish, and obviously the lack of antique fittings means that you are paying only for the sword. In many cases a good sword in shirasaya will have papers.

• Are the mounts of the same quality and style, or do they look like a mixed bag?

• does anything rattle?

It is usually worth deciding to pay more for a sword with a blade in full polish and mounted in quality fittings, than settling for something that needs polishing and other work that may in the end cost you Havingmore.saidthat, experienced Japanese sword collectors get great satisfaction in finding old blades that they judge to be worth restoring: sometimes a piece that looks rusty, stained and forlorn in a junk shop becomes a superb polished blade admired by all. However, when you are starting out my advice is to pay the premium for swords that are already in full polish, or with only minor imperfections. You can then learn enough from examining a good polished blade to decide whether you want to back your new-found knowledge on something that needs restoration.Seekout collectors who will show you their swords and answer your questions. Most collectors are happy to introduce new collectors to the field, and can teach you not only about swords but also about the etiquette of sword collecting. It is important to learn how to handle a sword correctly, because you will be judged by others on it. (Whatever you do, never reach out to touch a polished blade with your bare finger).

To complicate matters further, the signatures of well-known makers have been faked by enterprising individuals in Japan for a very long time, which is why official appraisal and authentication is such a big business today.

42 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 Buying an Antique Japanese Sword

On my first trip to a sword shop in Tokyo I was allowed into their advanced collection room only because my mentor in Australia had drummed into me proper sword etiquette. If I had not demonstrated that I knew the correct way to handle an antique sword, I would have been dismissed by the Japanese the original signature on the tang may be partly removed or lost entirely. This does not mean that a fine sword having no signature or a shortened tang should be avoided. On the contrary, there are some very highly rated koto swords that were never signed, or lost the signature when the tang was shortened, and collectors are happy to have them.

To put it in a nutshell: don’t get hung up on whether there is a signature on a sword. Collectors look at the whole sword - its shape, condition, temper, grain, and forging pattern. For someone who wants a genuine, well-made old sword there is much to be said for buying a fine unsigned blade in full polish, rather than a blade whose signature has not been authenticated.

Replacing missing pieces that need to be matched is often difficult, sometimes impossible. It has to be a good sword to be worth the trouble and expense.

The sword furniture

has fallen apart, a careful search online will find genuine antique menuki that match the theme and quality of the rest of the fittings, which the wrapping specialist then fits when he does the new silk wrap.

Buying a blade in shirasaya (plain wooden sheath)

The starting points for assessing a sword’s furniture are:

If at first you are concerned that you do not know enough, make it clear to experienced collectors that you need guidance to do things the right way. No one will think any the less of you, and they will appreciate yourGettinghonesty.toknow collectors also has the advantage of giving you opportunities to buy. Most Japanese sword collectors have more enthusiasm than money, and often have expensive acquisitions or polishing projects in mind. That means they may have swords in their collection that they are willing to sell. As they are mindful of their reputations, they are not likely to unload something bad on you.

3. A bubble of lifting lamination can be caused by a number of things, but it is unsightly. Even when treated by a professional polisher it may not be fixable. Better to avoid.

dealer as an ignorant Westerner, and shown only the tourist stuff in the street-front show room.

Faults to look for when buying a sword

Japanese trained, qualified and award-winning polisher Andrew Ickeringill see pprrice

Look for a sword that has a distinct character - that ‘speaks’ to you - for it will give greater pleasure in the long term than one that merely ticks the boxes.

2. Evidence of a broken tip. The temper line of a sword should run up into the triangular tip and in most cases turn back on itself. If you see a temper line that vanishes off the edge before the end of the tip, the point has been broken and reshaped. You need to see the full boshi (the cloudy temper line) inside the tip and then turning back. The depth of the temper line within the tip should be the same as its depth along the whole body of the sword’s cutting edge. If there is no visible temper line in the tip, it is another no go.

4. Chips in a sword’s cutting edge are problematic. A very shallow chip may be removed by a polisher by taking enough from the whole curve of the cutting edge to make it vanish. However if the chip is so large that it cuts right across the tempering the sword is scrap. Even with smaller chips, a polisher may still refuse if it requires the original geometry of the sword to be changed. If there are some sharp indents in the back edge they were almost certainly caused by fighting. Many collectors leave them rather than ask the polisher to remove them, as they are part of the sword’s historyand taking them out means removing metal along the back edge of the whole sword. Sword restoration Do not attempt to restore imperfections in a good blade yourself. It takes many years of arduous training under a master togishi in Japan before a sword polisher is qualified. There are no YouTube shortcuts that will produce an acceptable polished sword. Only a few westerners have undertaken the long training in Japan, and fortunately we have one of them in Australia - Japanese trained, qualified and awardwinning polisher Andrew Ickeringill at Touken-togishi. com in

Some blades may look fine at first glance. However if you are being asked to spend several thousand dollars, it pays to use a magnifying glass and good light to examine every centimetre of the blade.

CollectorsMelbourne.cansometimes arrange through local sword dealers to send their swords to Japan, but the significant downside is that it is very costly. In addition to the polisher’s fees, the cost of freight, Japanese police licensing charges (swords must be registered as a weapon when they arrive in the country, and then deregistered when they leave), and agent’s handling charges must be taken into account. Polishing cost alone for a katana can be $3000-$4000, so you have to be sure that when that amount is added to the sword’s purchase price, the restored sword is not over capitalised.

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These are the main faults to look for:

1. A fine crack running at right angles up from the cutting edge into the body of the sword. This means the sword structure has been compromised by a blow heavy enough to crack its outer and inner layers - a precursor to the sword breaking in half, so definitely a no go. They can be hard to see, so look carefully.

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The Sword

This was the last ‘named’ sword that I collected. I discovered it hiding on eBay with no interest being shown. I could only surmise that collectors and buyers were not aware of just how unique this particular sword is. I found it difficult to work out the exact meaning of the named cypher but used ‘Sword Forum International, (http://www.swordforum.com), attached a photograph and hoped. A small debate ensued but the general consensus was EJD. I used Hart’s Officer’s List in digital form and searched every year’s list from 1880 in the hope that I could find an officer whose initials matched. As luck would have it, Edgar John Dent was the only entry between 1880 and 1885 that matched. Ancestory.com then became my avenue of investigation and that led to census and another sites.

Edgar John Dent graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1882, as a Lieutenant.

The Search

The 1897 Pattern Infantry Officers’ Sword is a straight-bladed, three-quarter basket hilted sword that has been the regulation sword for officers of the line infantry of the British Army since 1897. In 1892, a new, straight, blade was introduced, mated to the existing 1845 ‘Gothic” hilt. A curved blade was abandoned in favour of a straight, stiff blade optimized for the thrust, and in 1895, a new pierced steel hilt pattern was introduced.Thisparticular sword is a composite 1897 pattern Infantry Officer’s sword; that is a ‘new pattern’ 1892 blade with inscription VR (Queen Victoria) on blade

By George Charlton and the sovereign’s cypher, EviiR (Edward VII) on the new pattern gothic guard. A maker’s proof marked is on the bottom the blade. ALFRED PILLEN, LONDON finest sword makers of his era. The original sword would have been purchased upon his promotion to captain in 1893 and would have been fitted with the tradition 1854 bronze guard. Upon retirement in 1903 Major Dent rehilted the sword and fitted this new 1897 ‘Gothic’ guard with the cypher of King Edward the VII – these were a slight change to the 1895 guard and introduced a rounded left edge to reduce clothing wear.

Captain Edgar John Dent King’s ScottishOwnBorderers

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scabbard is in fair condition. The grip is 5¾” (127146mm) long and is covered in ray skin and wrapped with German-silver wire. The grip is straight, with no offset to the blade. There is a chequered backstrap fitted, offering excellent grip. The blade is 32 1⁄2” (830 mm) long and 1” (25 mm) wide at the shoulder, with the complete sword weighing between 794g - 822g. The thick blade has a deep central fuller on each side and is rounded on both its edge and back towards the hilt. There is no immediate evidence of Boer War sharpening. Sharpening options included along the top side of the blade and the blade is tapered to permit this, and along the bottom cutting edge for approximately one-third of the length of the blade. An alternative concept was to only sharpen the tip of the blade for 6cm to facilitate the thrust.

The EdgarMan.John Dent was born in December of 1863, in Hendon, Middlesex, to Mr Robert Cecil Dent and Ms Susan Huddleson. He graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1882, as a Lieutenant. Upon commissioning he was posted in March of 1883 to the 2nd Battalion, King’s Own Borderers at Gibraltar. The battalion returned to the new barracks at Berwick-uponTweed and was given the new title of King’s Own Scottish Borderers in 1887. In July of 1888, the battalion sailed for Egypt and joined the Suakin Field Force in December 1888. He saw combat service in 1888 at Gemaizah and was issued with a Medal with Clasp and Khedive’s Star, In 1889 he fought at Toski where he was Mentioned in Dispatches and was awarded the 4th Class Medal of the Medjidie with Clasp. He was wounded in action Engravings on the sword include Pillin’s Proof Slug, Victoria Regina, and Interlocked Gothic EJD initials Guard with Edward VII CypherPillin’s Proof Slug, below Guard

“I happen to have been helping someone else with research into this off married Mary Violet Sellar in Scotland in 1893, and they had a daughter, Eleanor Ruth, in 1898 (these records can be found on Scotland’s People). In the 1911 census for England & Wales, Mary Violet Dent and Eleanor Ruth are recorded as living in Burley, not far from Edgar John’s brother Herbert Wilkinson Dent in Brockenhurst.” He was recalled to the 1st Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers, sailed for the Boer War landing in Cape Town in January of 1900. He saw combat service at Paardeberg, the Traansval and at the battle of Rustenberg (October, 1900), and at Vlakfontein and Lambrechtfontein in May of 1901. He was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal, and the King’s South Africa Medal with Clasps for CapeJohannesburgPaarderberg,andColony. John

Dent

on the 30th of April as part of the (Upper) Nile River Expedition. He embarked with the battalion for Bengal, India, and was barracked to Umbalia before sailing for Plymouth and joining the 1st Battalion at the Berwick barracks. He was promoted to Captain in 1893 and probably purchased a new sword with the newest pattern blade. He was posted to the HQ Company of the 3rd Battalion (Militia) in Dumfries, Scotland, as battalion adjutant. He had married Mary Violet Sellar in Scotland in 1893, and they had a daughter, Eleanor Ruth, in 1898. This information came to me via the Gentlemen’s Military Interest Club, (https:// gmic.co.uk/). A professional ancestory investigator read my article and forwarded to me the updated marriage details. She discovered these records on the Scotland’s People web site. He died on the 18th September, 1906 and in his will he left a considerable amount of property and money to his widow and their daughter.

46 ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 Captain Edgar

A retired Secondary English and History teacher who also dabbles in Geography, and a boarding housemaster at a variety of schools for almost twenty years. Serving in the Australian Army Reserve in the Infantry Corps he reached the rank of Sergeant. He has recently developed a passion for 19th and 20th century military swords, with many fine examples from Britain, France and Germany.

I started with British military and sporting arms, as they were available, especially those with colonial markings. But I became fascinated with the art of the gunmaker and the complexity and culture of Islamic and Javanese weapons. Working with metal.

Australian Rising Sun Badges, & Australians in Afganistan

500 Year Old Japanese Sword, & Buying an Antique Japanese Sword

Bill Taylor has been collecting antique arms for forty five years in Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide. He specializes in English flintlock pistols, and still enjoys finding something good, hidden under a couple of centuries of grime. He also collects antique Japanese swords and fittings.

Over the past fifty plus years I have spent many rewarding hours researching colonial Australian arms, particularly police and gaols firearms, and the lives of those who used them. I also attend trap shooting competitions where the goal is to use vintage shotguns manufactured in the Victorian era.

In 1968 a lucky find in the Chatswood White Elephant Store spurred me to add collecting to my shooting interests. I began picking up interesting old guns as well as rabbits, foxes was British Pistols and Revolvers, by J. N. George. From this, my collecting became my main focus.

After 40 years working in museums I’m still facinated researching great objects and their stories.

BILL TAYLOR

A Regional Gun Maker

Contributors

JOHN NEWTON

andgerve9th

ARMS CAVALCADE 2022 047

GEOFF POGSON The Cave Dewellers Club of Tasmania Part 3

PAUL DUFFY Kris, & Kangaroo & Lyrebird Powder Flasks

BRAD MANERA

Captain Edgar John Dent

GEORGE CHARLTON

Growing up in my grandparents’ home inspired an interest in objects with stories. The piano and mantelpiece were lined with sepia photos of young men in ill-fitting uniforms, slouch hats and puttees.

In 1968 a lucky find in the Chatswood White Elephant Store spurred me to add collecting to my shooting interests. I began picking up interesting old guns as well as rabbits, foxes and cats. The book was British Pistols and Revolvers, by J. N. George. From this, my collecting became my main focus.