Souvenir sjambok : Private R F Dawson, 2nd Contingent Victorian Mounted Rifles

Souvenir sjambok (cattle whip) made from flexible animal hide. Traditionally the hide was taken either from an adult hippopotamus or rhinoceros. The whip has an ornamental head made from two crossed cartridge cases. A vertically placed Martini-Henry .45/577 cartridge case, with headstamp markings 'C.K B', is slotted over the head of the whip. It is intersected by a smaller horizontally placed Mauser 9.92mm cartridge case, with headstamp markings 'D.M. 1896 K.', which is inserted through two holes made in the sides of the larger Martini-Henry case. The whip originally had a switch made from the hair of a lion's tail secured by two bands of fine wire. This is now missing, although one of the wire bands remains in place.

This sjambok was purchased in South Africa as a souvenir by 232 Private Robert Foster Dawson while he was serving with the 2nd Contingent Victorian Mounted Rifles in the Boer War. After training at Lang Warren, Victoria, the 265 strong unit sailed to Cape Town aboard the Euryalus, arriving on 5 February 1900. They served in northern Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal between February and November 1900 taking part in long marches involving constant skirmishing and some brief, sharp battles. The men suffered from lack of rations and extremes of both cold and heat; more than half of the unit's horses died from debility or starvation. The unit left South Africa aboard the Harlech Castle on 5 November 1900 and reached Melbourne on 4 December. They were disbanded shortly afterwards.