The donor Lucas Staehelin had established the first recorder group at the Collegium Musicum, Sydney in 1938 or 1939. He was also a founder of the college along with Carl Gotsch and Edward Marriott. It is not known if this instrument was used for performances at the college.

Lucas Staehelin, arrived in Australia from Switzerland in 1935. He and his wife Isobel, from Sydney, both played recorder and performed a duet organised by the British and International Music Society at the Forum Club in Sydney in 1937. The guest of honour, visiting English early music scholar Sir Richard Terry "expressed the hope that more early English musical instruments would be introduced to Sydney" (Sydney Morning Herald, 17/11/1937, p.13).

Recorder, treble (alto), boxwood / silver, maker unknown, England, c1900.

Boxwood recorder or old English flute in Key of 'F'. Light coloured wooden recorder in three parts, head joint (-1), middle joint (-2) and foot joint (-3). The head joint has a shaped mouth piece with a flat rectangular mouth hole and a darker wood in the tongue of the cutaway section, at the front there is a chiselled square sound hole under the mouth piece, at the join there is a 6mm silver collar. The middle join has a slight taper to the shaft and the joints top and bottom are bound in red waxed thread, 6 uncovered finger holes at the front, 3 and 5 are out of alignment, and one uncovered thumb hole at the back. The foot joint has a 6mm silver collar at the join and a single uncovered finger hole placed on the wide band of wood left around the middle of the foot joint, flared bell with a chip in the wood at the back.

Made: England; 1895 - 1905

Stamped on the front of head joint, centrally just above the collar, "ALT F"
Stamped on middle joint with the makers mark centre front above the first hole '(illeg) & Co'

H4826

1895 - 1905