This item was donated to the museum by Joseph Dallimore. Dallimore was brought up at Lake Gillear, and as a young man he left Australia to travel overseas both to help his parent's business in the wool trade and for pleasure. He wrote many letters to his parents keeping them updated with the prices he received from selling wool and on his travels. Later in life Dallimore enlisted in the Australian Army and went on to have a distinguished career during the Boer War. He would have collected this piano whilst on service in South Africa.South African thumb piano from the Zulu culture. It is a wooden panel board with 15 iron finger keys in it. They are stuck onto the wood at one end with some sort of glue and also held in place by an iron rod passing over the top of them. At the bottom of the board is a metal panel and attached to that is a small circular cymbal. There is a string tying the metal panel to the wooden board.There are no original markings on this although the original museum label is still stuck to the bottom which says, ' Native piano ( Mashona)' on it in script.south africa, joseph dallimore. war, boer war, zulu, finger piano, music

Brass Collection Plate presented to St Paul's Anglican Church, Allansford, by the mother of Joseph & Frank Dallimore as a Memorial to the two brothers who drowned at Ryan's Den (near Cape Otway) on Jan 1st 1903. Major Joseph Dallimore (aged 32) was on leave from Sth Africa during the war and he, his wife (Beatrice Wiggs) and baby, his brother Frank Rupert Dallimore (aged 22), a farm hand Arthur Geach (aged 19) and a house maid servant, were picnicing at Ryan's Den (near Cape Otway) when the three men went walking, but never returned, all assumed drowned. One theary has it - Mrs M.E. Dallimore was picnicing at Lake Gillear beach when an enormous wave swept over the shore - (much larger than any other during that day) and rolled in all along the beach. This wave may have also reached the area where the three men were walking on the rocks and swept them into the ocean. Only one body was recovered - some 4 weeks later - that of Frank Rupert Dallimore and washed into Brown's Creek, 1 mile from the Johanna River and ten miles east of Ryans Den.It is a memorial plate and records the family's attachment and importance to the Church.Brass engraved and embossed Memorial Collection PlateEmbossed wording around edge of plate in Old English font reads - "All things come of Thee and of Thine own have we given Thee". The inscription on the tondo of the plate reads - "TO THE GLORY OF GOD / AND IN MEMORY OF / JOSEPH & FRANK RUPERT DALLIMORE, / WHO WERE DROWNED AT RYAN'S DEN, / JAN 1ST 1903. / PRESENTED BY THEIR LOVING MOTHER, / M.E.DALLIMORE."brass st pauls anglican church allansford warrnambool church of england christ church parish of warrnambool collection plate memorial plate dallimore drowning ryan s den alms dish

This Boer War book was written by Robin Droogleever. It is a comprehensive history of the 3rd and 4th Victorian Bushmen Contingents and gives biographical details on everyone who served in these units. Many of the men in these units came from Warrnambool and the surrounding districts and many had been members of the Mounted Rifles or the Western Artillery units before enlisting to serve in the Boer War. One of these was Major Joseph Dallimore from Lake Gillear and his diaries are used extensively in this book as a primary historical source of the events of the war.This is an important reference book detailing the history of the 3rd and 4th Victorian Bushmen Contingents in the Boer War. This book contains many references to the servicemen in the Boer War who were in those units and who came from Warrnambool and district This is a hard covered book of 706 pages. The cover is blue with gold printing on the spine. The dust cover has an off white background with a photograph of some Boer War soldiers on the front and spine and colour photographs of medals, a shoulder badge and a war memorial on the back cover.The text is in two sections with eight parts in the first section and nine parts in the second section. The book contains many black and white photographs, maps and sketches and brief biographical notes on the soldiers who served in the military units described in the book. To Elizabeth O Callaghan, my best wishes, Rob Droogleever 17/10/09boer war, warrnambool