Australian Historical Medals

Lot 842    SESSION 4 (4.30PM TUESDAY 23RD MARCH)    Australian Historical Medals

Estimate $60
Bid at live.noble.com.au
SOLD $650

RETURNED SAILORS & SOLDIERS SHIP & WHARF WORKER'S UNION, (1919), badge in gilt and enamel (26mm), by Angus & Coote Ltd, Sydney, button lug back, reverse with impressed number 672, obverse features ship facing left in front of a Rising Sun. Good very fine.

Not recorded in Emblems of Unity by Gregory J. Smith.

In response to a question regarding the closure of the Melbourne docks by the striking waterside workers the President of the above union, in a statement to the Sydney press in May 1919, said that its members would not go on strike but would stand behind the men who stood behind us. They believed in settling disputes by conciliation and arbitration. He further stated that if they met with hostile interference then they would not hesitate to stand together the same as they did in France (i.e. in war service). On 10 September 1920 the union had its name cancelled because it failed to lodge reports of its receipts and disbursements.