Engraved bugle : N R Webb, AIF

Brass and copper bugle engraved with locations in Australia, Ceylon, Egypt, Gallipoli and France. A removable nickel-plated mouthpiece is retained by a length of brass chain. There are brass rings attached to the bell and the lower body. Hand engraved on the top of the bugle, towards the bell, is the following: 'SYDNEY COLOMBO EGYPT SUEZ CANAL TEL-EL-KEBIR ISMAILIA No1 A.G.H. HELIOPOLIS CAIRO GALLIPOLI ANZAC COVE QUINNS-POST HILL 971 AUGUST 1915'. A representation of the Rising Sun badge is shown above the words, 'FRANCE 1916'. On the side of the bugle are the names, 'GIZA LEMNOS ALEXANDRIA HELOUAN' and, 'MARSEILLES'. All of the engraved text is contained in decorative ribbons. There are faint maker's markings stamped into the bell of the bugle, and the letters 'ANZAC' are picked out in a series of dots around the bell.

Bugle engraved with locations visited by an unknown member of 1 Australian General Hospital in Australia, Ceylon, Egypt, Gallipoli and France. It is possible that the instrument was an item presented to the unit before embarkation. At the end of the Second World War the bugle was given to VX115765 Corporal Neil Richard Webb, battalion bugler of 8 Infantry Battalion (AIF), who restored it from its damaged and tarnished state. Mr Webb played the bugle regularly at Anzac and Remembrance Day services, and funerals in Victoria and the Northern Territory for many years. In 2003, noticing that the engraving was becoming faint, and concerned that the historic significance of the bugle would be lost, he replaced it with a more modern example.