About
The University of Melbourne's Faculty of Music Musical Instruments Collection: Rare and Historic Examples comprises instruments which were originally acquired for the use of students and orchestras in Melbourne. They include some wind instruments acquired in the early twentieth century with the support of Dame Nellie Melba, to enable Melbourne's orchestras to adopt the 'normal' pitch of 440 hertz as part of the international move towards standardization. Some of the instruments are regularly used by students and the community, such as the Melbourne Community Gamelan, said to be the finest sounding of all the gamelan in Australia, which was purchased in Madiun, central Java, in 1990.
