Australian Historical Medals

Lot 1422    SESSION 5 (4.30PM TUESDAY 29TH JULY)    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $2,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au

WALLABIES FOB MEDAL, 1908-9, in gold and enamel (27x33mm; 18ct; 14.40g), by C.W.Oakes, scroll and ring top suspension, obverse features the name Wallabies and the coat-of-arms of Australia and below enamelled flags of Great Britain and Australia and below them `Anglo.Welsh', the reverse is inscribed, `N.S.W. Rugby Union/To/Jas. McMahon./Manager./Souvenir/Australian Teams/British-American Tour/1908-9.' Hairlines on reverse and a few small edge chips to enamel on obverse, otherwise toned extremely fine.

See also lots E3417, 3418 and 3419.
With research including a copied photo of the Australian Rugby Football Team with all members, including the manager, identified by number.
James Patrick McMahon was born in Australia in 1868, the son of a migrant from County Clare in Ireland who developed a very successful carrying company as well as investing in Sydney real estate. James was a Colonel in the NSW Lancers and went to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. He was also a prominent rugby union player and also managed the Australian Rugby Union team that toured England and America in 1908-9.
The Australian team did not have a team name and when they arrived in England some newspaper reports referred to them as the `Rabbits'. In a letter that James McMahon, the team tour manager, wrote back to Sydney he stated, `That horrible expression, `rabbits', has arrived, and in some of the papers that is what we are termed. However, I have written to the Press pointing out that it is most objectionable, and we are now being termed the Wallabies. The `Daily Mail' puts it that we are `on the wallaby'. When his father died in 1914 James succeeded his father as owner of the transport business which he converted from horse drawn vehicles to motor vehicles. He was well known for his activities with the Royal Agricultural Society, NRMA, Master Carriers' Association, Chamber of Agriculture, Employers' Federation and as a member of the City Council from 1930 to 1950. At the Royal Easter Show in Sydney in 1937 and 1938 Lt-Col. J.McMahon was the Ringmaster and Chairman of the Wine Section Printing & Advertising Committees. James McMahon died at his home in Redfern at the age of 83. It is interesting to note that he was the uncle of William `Billy' McMahon, born at Redfern in 1908. His father was William McMahon who was James' brother. William `Billy' McMahon held various ministerial positions from 1951 to 1971 and as leader of the Liberal Party was the Prime Minister of Australia from 10 March 1971 to 5 December 1972.