Historical information

Anzac Day school children's medal, issued in 1918. The medal was distributed to every school child that year to commemorate Anzac Day. The Anzac forces first landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. The medal sold to Victorian school children and the public to commemorate ANZAC Day, 25 April 1918. 250,000 medals were struck. Bronze medals were sold for 1 shilling and oxidised silver medals for 5 shillings. One-third of the proceeds was to be directed to the funding of a permanent institution for returned soldiers. [The Argus, 11 April 1918, p 8]

Significance

This work forms part of the collection assembled by the historian Dorothy Rogers, that was donated to the Kew Historical Society by her son John Rogers in 2015. The manuscripts, photographs, maps, and documents were sourced by her from both family and local collections or produced as references for her print publications. Many were directly used by Rogers in writing ‘Lovely Old Homes of Kew’ (1961) and 'A History of Kew' (1973), or the numerous articles on local history that she produced for suburban newspapers. Most of the photographs in the collection include detailed annotations in her hand. The Rogers Collection provides a comprehensive insight into the working habits of a historian in the 1960s and 1970s. Together it forms the largest privately-donated collection within the archives of the Kew Historical Society.

Physical description

Bronze ANZAC Day medal distributed to all school children by the Department of Education in 1918 .Obverse has the bust of a uniformed soldier. The reverse image of the bust of an Australian soldier was adapted from a drawing by H. Harvey, an at assistant in the Victorian Education Department.

Inscriptions & markings

Obverse: Bust of uniformed soldier wearing hat left; around, HONOR TO THE A.I.F. In small letters below bust, S&S 15C HH
Reverse: Incuse on scroll which rests on olive branch, GALLIPOLI / FRANCE / PALESTINE; above EVD ; below, ANZAC DAY 1918