Mr Wilton, the "Old Man" ventriloquist doll, or dummy

Jack Gerard became interested in ventriloquism after his parents took him to his first ever concert at Carr's Creek Public Hall (Grafton) in about 1918-9. Captivated by the performance of Moncrieff (known as Crieff) Retalllick, Jack cycled 18 miles to Ulmarra to learn this then-novel performance artform. Crieff lent him a dummy and after months of practising, Jack began to perform publically. He continued ventriloquism until he was in his late 70s.

Jack ended up with a family of 9 dummies, two of which his daughter Norma donated to the museum. Andy can wonk and turn both eyes in any direction and has "natural" mouth movements. Mr Wilton, is reputedly over 150 years old and his head was carved "from a solid piece of wood by an Aboriginal in Queensland" ("From Pastures Green to the Silver Screen", p.45). Jack stated "all ventriloquists share a common objective, to make pole laugh and usually the simplest jokes achieve this result most effectively" ("From Pastures Green to the Silver Screen", p.45).

Mr Wilton, the "Old Man" ventriloquist doll, or dummy. Body of doll I feel is made of plaster of paris moulded to shape (with hole for manipulation at back) of torso to hips 51cm. Black assock with white clerical collar, long wide sleeves with white gloves as hands. Head separate. No legs. Jaw moves up and down stiffly, showing 6 paninted teeth and red tongue in background. Cassrock black-cotton. Gloves stuffed with foam which has foam length from shoulder (attached leg sticky) inside. Ventriloquist was John Gerard of "TASMA" threatre fame. All movements seem to work through opening at back.