To the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Law Enforcement

TO THE PARLIAMENTARY SUBCOMMITTEE ON LAW ENFORCEMENT INQUIRY INTO TRADE IN ELEPHANT IVORY AND RHINO HORN SUBMISSION FROM THE CELTIC PIPING CLUB (INC.) June 2017 http://www.celticpipingclub.com INTRODUCTION The Celtic Piping Club (Inc.) is a network for devotees of various bagpipes including the Irish uilleann pipes, Scottish smallpipes, Northumbrian pipes, Border pipes, musette de cour, pastoral pipes, and the Galician gaita; to name some of the more than 200 different types of mouth-blown and bellows-blown bagpipes. The Highland pipes are not a priority for the club as there are many other resources and opportunities available for players of that instrument. With regard to the aforementioned pipes, some have traditionally had ivory mounts and ferrules, particularly the uilleann pipes, Northumbrian pipes, and musette de cour. We, therefore, take this opportunity to express our concerns should an outright ban on domestic trade of objects containing ivory come into place. We support a total ban on trade in rhinoceros horn. Our submission reflects those from musical instrument dealers, antiques traders, etc., e.g., Submissions 26 and 32. Despite our concerns set out below, we strongly support all functional and effective efforts to eliminate the slaughter of elephants and rhinoceros and threats to their species. BACKGROUND From the end of the 16th century, some forms of bagpipes became musical instruments favoured by royal courts and the aristocracy, especially in France. They evolved into elaborate and sophisticated instruments and ivory was employed in their manufacture. By the end of the 18th century, the uilleann and Northumbrian pipes were fashionable among the gentry of Britain and Ireland. These instruments, of which not many remain worldwide, had ferrules and mounts of ivory to assist in preventing cracking and splitting the wood of the drones and chanters. This ivory, although having a decorative element, is integral to their function. Such ivory may be termed incidental ivory. From the late 1940s, the most common source of ivory for mounts and ferrules was from old billiard balls, as trade in raw ivory was banned in Europe in 1947. Post-CITES recycled ivory was rarely used, if at all. UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES Banning the domestic trade of such musical instruments containing incidental ivory would have a number of unintended and adverse consequences:– 1. Old sets by master makers occasionally turn up in antique shops, or are advertised after having been in a family for generations, with said family desirous of having the instrument once again cared-for and played. Any ban on domestic trade in ivory that includes musical instruments would take rare and historic instruments out of circulation. 2. The value of these instruments would decrease over time because they would not be able to be sold on open market. 3. If valuable instruments become worthless, or they are unable to be advertised and sold to practising musicians and aficionados, they will become neglected, lost, perished. Thus, a concrete record of the design, methods, and musical intentions related to high-end instruments would also be lost. 4. The loss of such instruments is a material loss of items of artistic, cultural, and historical importance. !1 5. We note that the art of uilleann piping is inscribed on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/uilleann-piping-01264). Preservation of historic instruments of that cultural heritage cannot be divorced from the practice. 6. Australia holds a unique place in the preservation of the above cultural heritage in that the only complete set of uilleann pipes by master maker Denis Harrington (fl. 1840s) was brought to Sydney in the 1850s and eventually sold to an early-career pipemaker in Western Australia in the late 1970s; who was able to use this set to rediscover a lost art. This maker, Mr Geoff Wooff, is now recognised as the current living master and has made over 200 sets of uilleann pipes. Such could never be repeated if a ban on domestic trade in ivory includes musical instruments made pre-CITES. RELEVANT TERMS OF REFERENCE a. the incidence of importation to, and exportation from, Australia of elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn products We note that for the period 2010 – 2016, the Department of Home Affairs reports but a single incident of seizure of ivory related to musical instruments (piano keys); out of a total of 309 seizures of items containing elephant ivory. e. the effectiveness of existing domestic legislation and compliance frameworks to restrict trade in elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn products, with particular regard to the role of the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Border Force Uilleann pipes, etc., containing ivory are rare historic items. They have been legally manufactured, legally acquired, and legally traded. The incidental ivory they contain represents no threat to elephant populations. Ivory is not used nowadays due to compliance with CITES. f. the effectiveness of current monitoring and regulation, including the extent and use of legally mandated provenance documentation attached to elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn The provenance of a set of pipes containing ivory can be firmly established by experts. Further, the condition and whereabouts of historic sets are keenly monitored by enthusiasts. The discovery of a hitherto unknown historic set quickly becomes news. In effect, there is a defacto system of monitoring and regulation as well as requirements to have CITES certification for instruments containing ivory when crossing international borders. g. the authenticity of provenance documentation and the effectiveness of measures to detect forged or fraudulent documentation See comment above. In the matter of musical instruments and particularly the kinds of bagpipes to which we refer, the system of provenance and documentation is watertight. It is impossible to palm a recently made set of pipes as a historic set, no matter how good the copy. Any attempt to do so would be like passing a newly made violin for a Stradivarius. Further, the effort required to fake a historic set for the purpose of illegally shifting ivory would not be practical, nor economically viable. It would not be practical because of the skill and time required to make such a set. Any maker capable of this would have a waiting list of years, up to a decade or more. (But it is highly !2 improbable that such a maker would be willing.) Economically, it is not viable to try to shift a few hundred dollars’ worth of ivory on a set worth tens of thousands of dollars. h. the potential to strengthen existing legislation and administrative arrangements, including through agreements with the states and territories, to reduce the domestic trade in elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn products We reiterate the comments made in Submission 26. Any ivory contained in historic sets of uilleann and Northumbrian pipes, etc., is pre-CITES. That, and the small number of these sets in Australia (estimate 10 to 20), means that any ban on the domestic trade in such sets, because of their ivory content, would have nil effect on efforts to eliminate the global trade in illegal ivory. i. supporting efforts to close domestic markets for elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn products As above, banning trade in musical instruments containing pre-CITES ivory would have nil effect on eliminating global trade in illegal ivory. The ivory on these instruments is integral to their design and function. Any attempt to remove such ivory would risk irreparable damage to items of international cultural and historic significance. In the case of uilleann pipes, we note that the playing of them is inscribed in UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. j. the nature and effectiveness of measures, models and legislation adopted in other jurisdictions to address the trade in elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn Both the United States of America and the United Kingdom, with some of the strictest measures in the world, provide exemptions for musical instruments containing pre-CITES ivory. SUMMARY In summary, although our submission primarily addresses the case of some relatively rare musical instruments in the bagpipe family, we are mindful of all who own pre-CITES musical instruments. The presence of ivory on these instruments is functional, but incidental to their purpose. Their existence has no effect on present elephant populations; it is practically impossible to engage in trade of illegal ivory by attaching it to a historic musical instrument. Any ban on domestic trade of pre-CITES musical instruments containing ivory would have nil effect on eliminating global trade in illegal ivory, but it would have catastrophic and irreversible consequences for the historic, cultural, and artistic legacies they represent. !3.

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