Violin damaged by kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia : Steward M E Loxton, HMAS Australia

Full-size violin complete except for chin board. The violin has four holes in it, and three slits on the soundboard which were repaired before the violin was revarnished.

There is a printed manufacturer's label inside the body which states: 'Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis / Faciebat Anno 17 05 (05 is handwritten) / (illegible) Ludwig Paulus (missing) / (missing) sag (missing) Hofgeigenbaue (missing)' There is a makers mark of a cross above A.S. within a double circle.

A Federal Safety Matches matchbox with the message 'Buy War Certificates' has been substituted for the original bridge.

This violin was played at impromptu ship's concerts and for relaxation by PA2001 Officers' Steward Mervyn Edwin 'Merv' Loxton while he was serving in the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia. The violin was damaged by shrapnel during one of the kamikaze attacks on HMAS Australia in the Philippines in early 1945.

Loxton repaired the damage, and replaced the shattered bridge with a matchbox so that he could continue to play. After the war Loxton had the matchbox bridge replaced with a wooden bridge. Australian War Memorial staff have inserted a Second World War era Federal Safety Matches matchbox to replicate the improvised matchbox bridge as made by Loxton in 1945.

Although the label has been damaged in the kamikaze attack, enough survives to establish that this violin is a Stradivarius copy made by Albin Ludwig Paulus, a violin maker who was born in 1866 and established himself at Markneukirchen in Saxony in 1890. He is well known for his Stradivarius copies which are reasonably common, but well-made. They date from 1890 to about 1930. This particular example is a copy of a 1705 model.