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Medal - Australian Comfort Fund, South Australian Division, Australia, circa 1919
Reg. No: NU 34525
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- Summary:
- Medal issued by the South Australian division of the Australian Comforts Fund. Comforts Funds sent care parcels to Australians serving overseas, including letters, newspapers and periodicals. Early in World War I local women?s groups in Australia began working to provide provide tobacco, cakes, puddings, condensed milk, sugar, biscuits' newspapers and other ?luxury? items to supplement the Australian soldier?s army rations. These fundraising bodies were amalgamated in 1916 to form a national body which undertook to provide ?comforts? to all Australians abroad, the Australian Comforts Fund. The ACF grew into an enormous fundraising, collecting, sorting and distribution organisation that rivalled the Red Cross. Although men took some executive positions on national and state committees, the bulk of the administrative and manual work fell on a huge ?army? of unpaid women. Some of the work took place on the battlefield, where 12 million mugs of coffee and tea were provided during World War I. The ACF was dissolved at the end of the War, but had proved such a success as a link between home and the battlefield that it was revived in 1940.
- Acquisition Information:
- Transfer from National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), 1976
| Discipline: | Numismatics |
| Dimensions: | 52 mm (Diameter) |
More information
| Tagged with: | wars conflicts, world war i 1914-1918, world war i fundraising, gallipoli, soldiers comforts |
| Themes this item is part of: | Australian Comforts Fund, World War I, Public Life & Institutions Collection, Stokes & Son, Medal Makers, Melbourne, Victoria & Sydney, New South Wales |
| Primary Classification: | MEDALS |
| Secondary Classification: | Commemorative |
| Tertiary Classification: | military history |
| Series: | Australian Commemorative Medals |
| DateEra: | circa 1919 AD |
| Obverse Description: | Bust of Australian soldier right wearing hat and holding rifle |
| Reverse Description: | Within wreath, NEW GUINEA / EGYPT / GALLIPOLI / FRANCE / PALESTINE / SALONIKA / MESOPOTAMIA; in small letters below wreath, STOKES & SONS |
| Edge Description: | AUSTRALIAN COMFORT FUND SA DIVISION |
| Inscriptions: | AUSTRALIAN COMFORT FUND SA DIVISION NEW GUINEA EGYPT GALLIPOLI FRANCE PALESTINE SALONIKA MESOPOTAMIA STOKES & SONS |
| Shape: | Round with loop |
| Material: | Bronze |
| Issued By: | Australian Comfort Fund, South Australian Division, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, circa 1919 |
| Mint: | Stokes & Sons (Mint), circa 1919 |
| Commissioned By: | Australian Comforts Fund (ACF) South Australian Division, South Australia, Australia, 1918-1920 |
| References: | Car. ZN/1 |
Themes
This item is part of the following themes:
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