Australian Historical Medals

Lot 747    SESSION 3 (2.30pm Tuesday)    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $15,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $20,500

VII BRITISH EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH GAMES, Perth, 1962, medals (3) in gilt silver (57 mm) for first place, in oxidised silverplate (57 mm) for second place and bronze (57 mm) for third place, by K.G.Luke, all with bronze metal chain attached, these three awarded to Linda McGill of the Australian Swimming Team, mounted in a presentation glazed frame, together with Linda McGills green Australian Team blazer with embroidered pocket of Australian Coat of Arms, 'British E & C Games / Perth 1962 / Swimming'; Australian Team lapel badge in gilt and green enamel; TAA passenger ticket; photograph of Linda McGill in the pool and a brass plaque (14.5 cm x 4 cm) inscribed in black block letters 'Linda McGill MBE / British Empire & Commonwealth Games - Perth 1962 / Gold Medal Team Australia / Dawn Fraser, Linda McGill, Pam Sergeant, Marguerithe Ruygrok / Freestyle Butterfly Backstroke Breastroke / New World Record / Silver Medal Bronze Medal / 440 yds Individual Medley 110 yds Butterfly. Glazed and framed (ht.97 cm, w.81 cm, d.5 cm). Olympic Games, Tokyo, 1964, participants medal in copper (61 mm) by Taro Okamoto / Kazumitso Tanaka, together with Australian team green jacket with embroidered pocket of Australian Coat of Arms, Olympic Rings, 'Olympic Games Tokyo 1964' by David Lack Pty Ltd Melbourne, as worn by Linda McGill; name badge 'Linda McGill'; Tokyo 1964 souvenir cloth patch; kangaroo lapel pin; Olympic rings lapel pin; photograph of Linda in the water and brass plaque (9.5 cm x 4 cm) inscribed in black block letters 'Linda McGill / Olympic Games 1964 / 5th Place Final / 440 yds Individual Medley / Tokyo 1964'. Glazed and framed (ht.95cms, w.91 cm, d.5 cm). This lot also includes British Empire & Commonwealth Games, Perth, 1962, commemorative medal in bronze (57 mm); Olympic Games, Tokyo, 1964, competitors badge in tombac (60 mm x 37 mm) with ribbon; cased Australia Sports Medal, with name inscribed on reverse, and miniature medal; Amateur Swimming Union of Australia, Australian Swimming Championships prize medals in gilt bronze (14) for 1st place, silvered bronze (4) for 2nd place and bronze (2) for 3rd place, with ribbon and brooch bars, dated between 1959-1964, all medals engraved with event and date on reverse; N.S.W. W.A.S.A., medals in gilt bronze (13) (2 missing Coat of Arms centrepiece), silvered bronze (8) and bronze (2), all bar one with ribbon and brooch bar, 1958-1963, event and date inscribed on reverse of each; N.S.W. Womens Amateur Swimming Assn., medals in gilt bronze (6), bronze (1), with chain attached for wear, dated 1963-64, event and date inscribed on reverse of each; R.L.S.S. Award of Merit in gilt and enamel (33mm) with ribbon and bar, inscribed on reverse 'L.McGill / 2.12.60' and on bar 'L.McG.1st 30.11.61'; Royal Life Saving Society, bronze medal (33mm) inscribed 'L.McGill / 2.12.58'; FINA-MSI World Masters Swimming Championships, Rio De Janeiro 6/13 August 1990, in bronze (41mm) (2) with chain; also Australian Olympic Team Tokyo 1964, team green tracksuit, yellow terry towling dressing robe and green fine wool dressing robe, all with official Australia, Tokyo 1964 team patch on breast pockets. Also N.S.W. W.A.S.A., Australian Championships, Hobart 1958-59, Sydney 1959-1960, Brisbane 1960-61 navy wool blazer with embroided pockets; blazer; trophy with plaque (1st Australian to swim around Manhattan Island N.Y.N.Y. 1983; two scrap books; photos, Womens Weekly January 1974. An interesting group of memorabailia to one of Australia's swimming legends. Good - extremely fine.

Linda McGill MBE. From her first dip at age one month in 1946 to her third Manhatten Island Marathon swim in 1986, Linda McGill broke records, pioneered women's distance swims and produced championship performances at club, state, national and international levels. At age nine Linda won freestyle and breast stroke events at all district carnivals and was spotted by Olympic coach Frank Guthrie. With Guthrie, she won all her trials, set a breast stroke record and began swimming butterfly. By age thirteen she won seven age group state championships and was selected for the national competition, finishing second in her event. In 1958 she joined Forbes Carlyle's coaching, then in 1960 Don Talbot. At the 1961 Australian Swimming Championship in Brisbane fifteen year old Linda won the open national title. In 1962 at these championships she won the 440 yds individual medley and 110 yds butterfly and was second in the 220 yds breast stroke. She was selected for the Perth Commonwealth Games squad. Linda, Dawn Fraser, Marguerithe Ruygrok and Pam Sargeant won the medley relay in world record time at an exhibition swim two days before the Games. At the Games Linda won bronze in the 110 yds butterfly, silver in the individual medley and, in world record time, gold in the medley relay. Linda won five national titles in three days - a women's record. She won 100 m butterfly, 200 m butterfly, 400 m, individual medley, 200 m individual medley and 200 m breast stroke. The butterfly and medley times were Australian records and selection for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games was automatic. In Tokyo she finished fifth in the individual medley - an Australian record. In the Ceylon Swimming Association competition the same year Linda, Ruth Everuss and Ilsa Konrads won every event and re-wrote the record books. August 1965 saw Linda's first English Channel swim, the first Australian to do so. In July 1967 she swam Sydney Harbour, breaking the US record. Two months later came the second English Channel swim and four weeks after, the third and record breaking Channel swim, a new women's record. This stood for eight years. New Year 1968 brought 22 year old Linda the MBE, then the youngest Australian recipient. In January 1968 Linda won the Port Phillip Bay crossing, the first person to do so. Also in 1968 she swam from Capri to Naples; in Canada she swam Lake Ontario, Lake St John and Lake Simone and in the US, Block Island to Rhode Island. Later that year the Brisbane to Moreton Island and Townsville to Magnetic Island swims saw Linda back in Australian waters. In 1972 she swam in Hong Kong Harbour and in 1977 Saudi Arabia to Bahrain and Rabaul, New Guinea. Between 1983 and 1986 Linda swam three times in the Manhattan Marathon, the first Australian to swim around Manhattan Island. In 1989 she competed in the World Masters Games in Rio di Janeiro. Another of Linda's achievements was her auto biography "Surviving the Sea of Life, The triumph and tragedies of an Australian Olympian" published in 2007. Linda McGill's oustanding competitive swimming career spanned four decades and brought many glittering prizes - dedication, perseverance and a great talent rewarded.