That is the caption at the museum, with this information, which I copied: "Most modern oboes are
made from tropical hardwoods such as Grenadilla. Tom Sparkes of Sydney experimented with native
timbers and found that mulga wood from old mine props makes high-quality oboes, as it is well-
seasoned, fine-grained and hard. Sparkes also redesigned the bore of the oboe to improve the
accuracy of some of the lower notes, and modified the keywork so that it requires less frequent
adjustment. These recycled mulga-wood oboes are becoming increasingly popular with oboists."