Australian Historical Medals

Lot 818    SESSION 3 - 2.30PM Tuesday 29 July    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $70
Bid at live.noble.com.au

SYDNEY UNIVERSITY PRIZE MEDAL, (1925), in bronze (52mm) by A.Wyon, reverse inscribed, 'M.A.Examination./1925./A.J.A.Waldock./(English)'. In case of issue by Flavelley, Roberts and Sankey Ltd, uncirculated.

Arthur John Alfred Baldock (1898-1950) author of Paradise Lost:And Its Critics, published 1961. In the Sydney Morning Herald, tuesday 12 June 1934, page 8 it was reported, 'The Senate of the University of Sydney at its meeting yesterday elected Mr. A. J. A Waldock, lecturer in English, to the chair of English Literature, which has been vacant since the death of Professor J. Le Gay Brereton in February, 1933. The committee of advice in England and within the University concurred in recommending Mr. Waldock on all essential grounds.

Professor Waldock is the son of the Rev Dr. A. J Waldock, of Canberra, and a graduate of Sydney University. He took his B A degree in 1918, with first-class honours in English and history, won the Coulson and James Coutts scholarships for English, and the Fraser scholarship for history. He graduated M A in 1925, again taking first-class honours and the University medal. He was appointed an Instructor in English on the staff of the Royal Australian Naval College Jervis Bay, but after a few months returned to the University as a lecturer in English. He has since held that office, and has attained a high position in Australian literary scholarship.

Professor Waldock's chief publication is 'Hamlet - A Study in Critical Method,' about which the chief Shakespearean critics have spoken appreciatively. An equally striking achievement was Professor Waldock's 'Thomas Hardy and the Dynasts,' written as a lecture for the Australian English Association and printed only in that association's series of leaflets, but now being sought for republication in England.

Both Professor Waldock and Professor Le Gay Brereton were pupils of Professor Sir Mungo MacCallum, and the tradition of the School of Modern Literature studies created by him will, therefore, continue.'