Australian Historical Medals

Lot 893    Session 4 (4:30pm Tuesday 31 July)    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $100
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $80

RIVERINA MOVEMENT BADGE, undated (1931), in gilt and enamel (24x15mm), by Angus & Coote, pin back. Uncirculated and scarce.

The Riverina Movement was originally initiated in the 1850s by the separatist, Dr John Dunmore Lang. It lapsed in the 1880s but reactivated in the 1920s and by the early 1930s was in full swing under the presidency of Charles Downey Hardy (Senator for Country Party 1932-1938) with thousands gathering to hear him speak at the Wagga Secession Rally. In 1931 a special movement badge was created based on the Australian Army Rising Sun badge with an Australian flag and the letter R (Riverina) in the centre of the flag. A women's auxiliary was formed at Wagga to support the Riverina Movement with more than one hundred women and girls enrolled in a few minutes and these volunteers embarked on an intensive campaign to enrol members and sell Riverina Movement badges.

The Movement sought to have the Riverina break away from New South Wales and become a self governing province. Senator Hardy and others from the area felt that those in the country, in particular the primary producers, were being ignored by the State as well as the Commonwealth governments. Rallies were held and there was huge support for the movement in the Riverina. The government ignored the Movement's resolutions and as the economy began to recover following the defeat of the Jack Lang led NSW Government in 1932, the Movement lost its momentum and faded away.