Waist belt : Lieutenant H A A Embling, Victorian Mounted Rifles

Brown vegetable tanned leather belt with a flat rectangular brass buckle. The belt is made from one piece of 1 7/8-inch-wide leather. The billet is rounded and the edges have an incised (tooled) decorative line running around the edges. There are 14 holes punched for adjusting the size of the belt. On the billet end there is a maker's mark '??ELLARD MELBOURNE'. '585' is stamped on the outside centre back, and on the inside surface 'D-D' indicating that the belt was the property of the Defence Department.

The Victorian Mounted Rifles (VMR) date from the 2 December 1885 when nine companies were formed under the command of Colonel Tom Price. In 1891 approval was given for a reorganisation into two battalions: the 1st Battalion with its headquarters at Melbourne and the 2nd with headquarters at Ballarat. The VMR were disbanded in 1904. Lieutenant Embling was one of over 600 men who served in the Fourth (Imperial) Victorian Contingent in South Africa. This was the largest contingent raised by Victoria and as with the previous contingents, drawn largely from the VMR. The contingent was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Kelly and was called the Imperial because of the large financial support given by Great Britain to its raising. The unit left Melbourne on 1 May 1900 on the troopship 'Victorian' and served in Rhodesia. It returned to Melbourne on 12 July 1900. Lieutenant Embling was captured by the Boers and later released.