Australian Historical Medals

Lot 904    Session 4 (4:30pm Tuesday 31 July)    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $500
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $380

QANTAS EMPIRE AIRWAYS, 9 carat gold brooch in form of a WWII 'Catalina' inscribed 'L.J.Brain/Q.E.A. 1943'; Matthews Aviation Pty Ltd, pilots wings, c1933. Victorian airline servicing Melbourne to Launceston and King Island, carrying mails. With research, very fine. (2)

Ex J.P.Melick Collection, the first from Australian Coin Auctions, Sale 268 (lot 1496).

Captain Lester Joseph Brain A.F.C., A.M.I.E., Commendation for bravery during WWII, citation reads: "Capt.Brain was in charge of ferry operations of flying boats to Java when Broome was heavily raided in May 1942. He organised the rescue of passengers from aircraft destroyed on the water, and was instrumental in the success of various undertakings required in the transport of men and equipment to the forward zones." He was the senior founder of Qantas, and earned fame for the search and discovery of Anderson and Hitchcock's missing aircraft 'Kookaburra' which had been tragically lost in the search for Kingsford-Smith's 'Southern Cross'. He again made news headlines in his search for Messrs Moir and Owen, finding them both alive after they were forced down onto an isolated part of the Australian coast from engine trouble during their crossing of the Timor Sea as part of an England-Australia flight.