Aust. Historical Medals

Lot 772    Session 3 (2.30pm Tuesday)    Aust. Historical Medals

Estimate $10,000
Bid at live.noble.com.au

EDWARD VII, official coronation medal 9 August 1902 in gold (92gm, 56mm) by G.W. de Saulles for the Royal Mint (BHM 3737; Eimer 1871a). Edge engraved 'The Right Honourable Thomas Hughes. First Lord Mayor of Sydney. 1902.' Edge bruise at 5.30, extremely fine and very rare.

Ex Dr Gordon V. Shortland Collection (private purchase from M.R. Roberts circa 1975). Thomas Hughes was born on 19 April 1863 in Sydney, the third son of Irish parents. Along with his brother he was educated in England at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire and matriculated for the University of London in 1880.After his schooling Thomas toured Europe and after returning to Sydney in 1882 he was articled to T M Slattery and admitted as a solicitor on 28 May 1887. His brother had previously been articled to H M Makinson in 1878 and admitted as a solicitor on 1 March 1884. Then in 1887 the brothers stated to practise the law as Hughes and Hughes. Thomas married Louisa Gilhooley at St Mary's Cathedral on 2 July 1884, she being the sister of his brother's wife Mary Rose. When their father had died in 1880 the brothers inherited Lyndhurst Chambers and 26 Hunter Street in the city. John went on to acquire other property and became involved with many religious and business organizations and then went into local and State politics. Thomas was little concerned with public affairs until 1898 when he openly supported the move for Federation. In 1899 he became secretary to the government representative to the Legislative Council and then he accompanied Premier Reid as secretary to the Federal Conference of Premiers in Melbourne. In 1901 Thomas Hughes was defeated when he ran for the safe seat of Sydney-King. He then put all his energy into municipal affairs being the representative for the Bourke Ward on the Sydney Municipal Council 1898-1912. He instituted a vigorous investigation into the city's finances and also helped organize the Citizens' Vigilante Committee which assisted with the government's control of the first plague outbreak in 1900. In 1902 Thomas Hughes was elected as Mayor of Sydney, the last Mayor of Sydney because on 18 December 1902 the title of Lord Mayor was conferred on the position of Mayor by King Edward VII. Thus Hughes then became the first Lord Mayor of Sydney, a title he held again in 1903, 1907 and 1908. He was a member of the Royal Commissions on Sydney water supply (1902-3) and on the decline of the birth-rate (1903-4). He became a staunch campaigner for a unified Greater Sydney favouring a centralized municipal body owning and controlling key public services and a programme of slum clearance and re-housing. By 1906 he had extended the franchise to vote for joint and individual occupants of business premises and thereby overcome the vote of the working class. In 1908-9 he presided over the Royal Commission for the improvement of the City of Sydney and its suburbs. In 1908 Thomas Hughes was nominated for the Legislative Council and in 1915 he was knighted. He went on to hold many prominent positions as a board member on a variety of important companies. He was also deeply involved in Catholic affairs. In 1900 he served as secretary of the first and third Catholic congresses in 1900 and 1909 and was appointed a Knight Commander of the Papal Order of St Gregory in 1915. Sir Thomas Hughes died on 15 April 1930 in St Vincent's Hospital and was buried in Waverley Cemetery after a service at St Canice's Church, Darlinghurst, sited on land he had donated as well as donating œ4,000 towards the building costs. Sir Thomas cut an imposing figure with dark hair, parted in the centre, and a waxed moustache. In the Sydney Town Hall Collection there is a marble portrait bust of him by Nelson Illingworth. In 1908 the Royal College of Heralds granted the Municipal Council of Sydney the right to use armorial bearings as its official coat of arms. The arms of Sydney's first Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas Hughes, were incorporated into the design and have been retained in the new design which was introduced in 1996.