Eric Child (1910-1995) jazz aficionado and doyen of Australian jazz broadcasting. The head was a fixture in Eric Child's courtyard garden.

Eric Child's jazz programs ran for a record 30 years

Bronze Bust

eric child

William H Miller's Ampersand R Series Label

William Henry 'Bill' Miller founded Ampersand Records in the 1940's to record Australian Jazz groups. Ampersand was the first specialist Australian jazz label and is significant for its collection and promotion of uniqely Australian jazz.

Ampersand record label

ampersand, bill miller, william h miller, australia jazz label

William H Miller's XX Series Labels

Bill Miller started the XX label to provide local copies of American jazz recordings

XX Jazz Record label

xx records, william henry miller, double x records, double cross records

Letter proposing establishment of an Australian Jazz Convention after WW II.

Led to the development of the longest running Jazz Convention in the world from 1946 to the present day.

Letter from Ade Monsbourgh to C. Ian Turner proposing the establishment of an Australian Jazz Convention

ade monsbourgh, c ian turner, australian jazz convention

The brass cornet was owned by early Australian Jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist Benny Featherstone

Benny Featherstone is considered "one of the most fascinating and gifted musicians in the history of Australian jazz" (Johnson, Oxford Companion to Australian Jazz, p 154). Once described as "Australia's Louis Armstrong"

Buescher brass cornet

True tone. Pat. Oct 89.07 287335 LP 262 The Buescher Elkhart Ind. U.S.A.

benny featherstone, prince of good fellows, thirties, jazz musician, melbourne jazz musician, drummer, 1930 s, buescher cornet, trumpeter, trombonist, clarinetist, pianist, early australian jazz

Size of box is 6cm x 4cm In 1936, young Eric Child (1910-1995) met, and squired around London's jazz night-spots, Lucille Wilson a dancer in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds stage production at the Gaiety Theatre. Although Lucille knew a few famous bandleaders she, at that time, had never heard of Louis Armstrong, THE King of jazz, according to Eric. Later, in a letter to Eric in late 1942, Lucille wrote that she had met his King - and had become his fourth wife on 7th October 1942. She had finally worked with Louis at the new Cotton Club in Harlem in 1939 where she was in the chorus line using the stage name Brown Sugar. The long platonic friendship with Lucille remained and Eric and his wife Angela (1919-2001) welcomed her and the King in Brisbane on Louis' first visit to Australia in April 1956, and on all subsequent visits here. At a dinner at the Child's Sydney home Lucille presented Angela with one of Louis' famous stage handkerchiefs, signed by the All Stars, and a her own brooch and earrings, which Angela had quite innocently admired. Following Eric's death in 1995, Angela promised the Louis handkerchief to Bill Haesler and the brooch and earrings to Jess Haesler when she died. Rather than keeping these unique items private, the Haeslers donated them, in Angela's memory to the Victorian Jazz Archive.

A unique momento of jazz great Louis his wife Lucille Armstrong,and his Australian friends Eric and Angela Child.

Costume jewellery - Silver and cut glass brooch and ear rings

lucille armstrong, angela child, ear rings, brooch

Used on Ade Monsbourgh's Recorder in Ragtime album of 1956 described by Bruce Johnson as "a unique exercise in jazz on recorder."

The significance of this recorder lies in it being both an early example of recorder making in Australia and its connection with internationally recognised Australian jazz musician Ade Monsbourgh. The Pan company was the first to produce recorders in Australia. It was established by jazz musicians Ade Monsbourgh and Don Roberts in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, Victoria in 1951. The company manufactured affordable wooden recorders for school students. Instruments such as this were made using local timbers and featured an innovative section of the mouthpiece (the block unit or windway) which was removable and made of plastic, possibly to allow easier cleaning to occur for the sake of hygiene. It is unknown in what numbers these instruments were made. Ade Monsbourgh (1917-2006) was one of Australia's pioneering jazz musicians especially in the period following World War 2 when he played in Graeme Bell's band. As a talented and influential saxophonist he toured several countries, as well as playing with other leading Australian musicians including Bob and Len Barnard. He was awarded an Order of Australia for his services to music in 1992. Don 'Pixie' Roberts (b.1917) was also an early figure in the Australian jazz scene from the 1930s and, in particular, the Australian Jazz Convention of 1946. He also played with Graeme Bell's band.

Alto Recorder belonging to Ade Monsbourgh

ade monsbourgh, alto recorder

Len Barnard's 'Soap Saver' Washboard

Len Barnard is a major contributor to Australian Jazz

Metal and timber 'Soap Saver' Washboard

National Washboard Co. Chicago Saginaw Memphis Soap Saver Trademark reg. U.S. Pat.Off. Made in U.S.A. No 198 Patent 1152766-1283148

soap saver washboard, washboard, len barnard, soap saver washboard, washboard, len barnard