Collection of two plastic reeds: Private Pretoria Herbert Zanker, 2/43 Battalion

Two used plastic alto reeds with "R.M. CO. LTD. LONDON / AUTOCRAT / NON HYGROSCOPIC" printed in gold on the surface. These are stored in an "AUTOCRAT REED / RHYTHM / Get acquainted with the Autocrat Reed" card box.

Plastic alto saxophone reeds possibly used by Private Pretoria Herbert Zanker, 2/43 Battalion in the AIF band in the Middle East. Zanker was born on 20 January 1902 at Orroroo, SA, and enlisted at Adelaide on 2 July 1940 with the 2/43 Battalion. After training he embarked for service in the Middle East in December 1940, serving as a stretcher bearer and band member, playing such wartime melodies as "Elmers Tune", "There's Nothing Like Music" and "Comin' in On A Wing and A Prayer", for which his family donated the music. He was wounded at Tobruk on 21 October 1941, served in Syria and was discharged from the AIF on 14 November 1943. According to his family Zanker acquired this alto sax in Australia in 1938. While he may have used these plastic reeds due to the heat of the Middle East drying out his cane reeds, they could have easily been acquired after the war; and indeed all newspaper advertisements mentioning these reeds occur in the post-war period, c 1946 - 1950.