THE FIRST ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI – APRIL 1915 – CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN COMMEMORATIVE MEDALLIONS & THEIR BACKGROUND
Walter R Bloom and John McDonald
- INTRODUCTION
It is almost exactly 100 years since the first ANZAC force went ashore with other Allied forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula that overlooks the strategic Dardanelles Strait. Control of this peninsula would have enabled the Allies to blockade Turkey’s only sea route from the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea, starving it of vital supplies and material. The Anzacs landed on 25th April 1915 and after 8 months of bloody, and ultimately futile, fighting they withdrew during the nights of 18-19th and 19-20th December 1915. Although the Gallipoli campaign resulted in a decisive defeat and was in many ways a debacle, it almost immediately became an icon of Australian military history due to the courage and resilience shown by the men involved in the landing.
Numerous coins, medals and medallions have been struck over the years to commemorate the actions of the Anzacs at Gallipoli. Many of them were struck long after the event, but the first of them appeared remarkably quickly, within only two or three months of the landing, while the Anzacs were still fighting and dying at the Dardanelles. In fact the first suggestions about striking medallions appeared within 6 weeks. For example, the “Sydney Morning Herald” of Friday 4th June 1915 reported that:
“The suggestion is made by a correspondent that a medal commemorative of the landing and brave action of our troops at the Dardanelles should be designed and struck off for sale …..”
At home in Australia the landing at Gallipoli was quickly followed by an outburst of patriotic fervour. This was tapped by a number of major fund raising schemes aimed mainly at providing comforts and medical aid for the men at the front or, at home in Australia, assisting returning wounded soldiers and the families of men who had been killed.
Much of the money raised was channelled through the Red Cross. Most of the commemorative medallions of the time were issued for sale to the public as part of these fund raising activities.
The Australian War Memorial believes that a medallion struck in Sydney and issued to the public in mid to late July 1915 was “the first commemorative medallion in the world to commemorate Gallipoli“. However, our recent research has revealed that this title belongs to a medallion honouring “our boys at the Dardanelles” that was produced in Perth and was on sale by the beginning of July 1915.
For the purposes of this article, we have taken “contemporary” medallions related to the first Anzacs to be those issued in 1915-1916, carrying the words “DARDANELLES”, “GALLIPOLI”, “ANZAC” or a combination of these, sometimes accompanied by other words. Les Carlisle, the principal authority for Australian medallions, lists more than 20 types and varieties that were issued during this period. We are grateful to Les Carlisle for his permission to use the images and descriptions from his book for the medallions detailed below.
A number of other patriotic medallions of a more general type were also issued during this period. However, because they made no specific reference to the Gallipoli campaign they will not be discussed in this article.
- THE EARLY ISSUES – 1915
2.1 Western Australia
In Perth, the Daily News of Friday 2nd July 1915 carried a report quoting the President of the East Perth Football Club that included the following paragraph:
…….. we have adopted what I think is a very appropriate idea in striking a medallion to commemorate the landing of the Australians at the Dardanelles. These have now been prepared, and are to be sold by members of our ladies’ committee at the various matches at 6d. each.
From this it seems quite clear that the medallion referred to must have been struck by the end of June 1915, and given the timing, in Perth. In fact the maker was Richard Stanley Cumpston (City Electric Engraving Works).
Just a week later, on 9th July, the same paper reported that:
The bronze medallions struck by the East Perth Club to commemorate the Australian landing at the Dardanelles are selling very well. Already 1,600 have been disposed of. The proceeds are to be devoted, with those of the big bazaar, to the War Distress and Wounded Soldiers’ Funds.
On the same date the Westralian Worker carried an article stating that:
East Perth have decided to devote the total receipts accruing from their efforts at the bazaar arranged during September to various funds. Ten thousand medallions have been struck off, and lady members of the club’s committee are selling them at 6d. apiece.
On Thursday 12th August 1915 an article in The West Australian under the headings WAR APPEALS /
RED CROSS SOCIETY / EAST PERTH FOOTBALL CLUB included the following information:
….. twelve thousand medallions have been issued for sale in the different portions of the State and, as they are of very attractive design, it is expected they will be eagerly purchased in aid of the cause.
Obverse: STRUCK IN HONOUR OF OUR BOYS AT THE DARDANELLES
Reverse: WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 1915 / GOD SPEED / THE / ALLIES
24mm. Bronze, brass, aluminium. Carlisle 1915/17.
The origins of this medallion have previously been obscure, but we are confident that it can now be identified as the one produced by the East Perth Football Club and we can put the mintage at a minimum of 12,000. We also believe that this was the very first Australian medallion commemorating the Gallipoli landing to be struck and issued to the public.
2.2 The First Australia Day
New South Wales – Sydney
In NSW, 30th July 1915 was declared to be “Australia Day”. This was a one-off event, and it was the first time that the term Australia Day was used. At the time 26th January was known as Foundation Day in NSW and the other States celebrated the anniversaries of their own first European settlement on various days of the year and under a number of different names (here, Western Australia Day on 1st June, first proclaimed by Lieutenant-Governor James Stirling in 1832 in recognition of the first and greatest British naval victory over the French in 1794, the “Glorious First of June”). It wasn’t until 1935 that all the States agreed to call 26th January Australia Day.
Responsibility for renaming Foundation Day in 1915 and making it the focus of an enormous fund raising drive for the Red Cross was attributed to a Mrs E. Wharton- Kirke of Manly, who said that she recruited a certain Mr Hugh Ward (then Managing Director of the J. C. Williamson theatrical company) to promote the cause. He had apparently been one of the main organisers of Belgian Day, held on 14th May 1915, which had successfully raised large sums for the Belgian Relief Fund.
The first recorded mention of the Australia Day scheme that we have located was in an article in the Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser of Wednesday 2nd June 1915 in which Mr Ward, while visiting Adelaide, was interviewed on a range of subjects. The article included the following extracts:
July 30 has been announced as “Australia Day” in Sydney, and it has been projected by Mr. Ward, who is hopeful of making it a day for a huge collection to be taken up throughout the Commonwealth in aid of the soldiers who return wounded and sick from the battlefields.
Ward’s hopes of making it a nationwide event seem to have been largely realised. Later newspaper reports show that the 30th July 1915 was adopted as Australia Day in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia as well as in NSW. However, Queensland conducted its own event on a different date and under a different name.
Clearly, planning for Australia Day in NSW was under way by the beginning of June 1915, but there is no mention of any associated medallions being issued until mid July, by which time the East Perth Football Club medallions had been produced and at least 10,000 had already been issued in WA.
In a letter to the Mayor of Dubbo reproduced in The Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate of Friday 30th July 1915, Mrs Wharton-Kirke, who was apparently an ex-resident of Dubbo, wrote that:
By today’s mail (the date of the letter was not reported but it was read at a meeting held on 28th July) 200 medals are being forwarded for your committee to dispose of for Australia Day Fund. They are the first medals struck in honor of “our boys landing at Gallipoli” and in memory of “A Day.” I originated “A Day,” and handed it over to the Red Cross and Hugh Ward, and at my request Mr. Proud has had 5000 medals struck, and donated them for the fund – with £300. He has generously given them to me for disposal. There is a terrific demand, and if I had 50,000 I could easily dispose of all. They cost him almost 1s. to have them struck ………
The earliest mention of these medals was in the Sunday Times of Sydney on 18th July 1915, which announced that:
Five thousand, handsome medals presented by Mr. Proud, jeweller, of King-street, specially struck for Australia Day, and in memory of the Dardanelles, to help our sick and wounded soldiers, are now available on application to Mrs. Wharton Kirke, The Crescent, Manly.
These sources clearly show that the Australia Day medallions commissioned by Mr Proud to commemorate the Gallipoli landing were not issued until mid July 1915. Therefore the claim that they were the “first medals struck in honor of our boys landing at Gallipoli” was incorrect and undoubtedly made in ignorance of events that had already taken place on the far side of the country in Perth.
A week later the Sunday Times reported that:
…… an enthusiastic band of women attended the Lady Mayoress’ meeting to discuss arrangements for July 30. Many valuable contributions were sent in to be disposed of as the committee thought best. Among them were £300 worth of medals from Mr. Proud, bearing a map of Australia, surrounded by the wording, ‘For God, King, and Country,’ and on the obverse side a picture of the heights at Gallipoli.”
This description is consistent with Carlisle 1915/5 which we believe can confidently be identified as the initial “Prouds” medallion because an identical example struck in gold (with the addition of a hand-engraved dedication on the reverse dated 25 July 1915) was presented to Mrs Wharton-Kirke in recognition of her work. This presentation piece and three others in gold that went to King George V, the Prince of Wales and King Albert of Belgium would undoubtedly have been struck using the first dies.
Obverse: GALLIPOLI APRIL 25. 1915
Reverse: FOR GOD KING AND COUNTRY / REMEMBER THE DARDANELLES/
AUSTRALIA / DAY
25mm. Bronze, silvered, gilded, silver & gold. Carlisle 1915/5.
The Wharton-Kirke Medallion Struck in Gold
Inscribed “ELLIE WHARTON-KIRKE / BY SYDNEY CITIZENS 25.7.1915”
(Image source: Australian War Memorial RELAWM12438.001)
Variants of the Prouds medallion exist with the same, or an extremely similar, obverse but with the following reverses:
– Blank field (for engraving?) surrounded by a wreath (Carlisle 1915/5a)
– TO / COMMEMORATE / THE LANDING / APRIL 25 / 1915 within a wreath, with PROUDS LTD. in small lettering beneath (Carlisle 1915/7).
Another variant of the Prouds medallion has a very similar obverse and reverse, but with a much more complex background to the figures of the soldiers on the obverse. It also lacks the date APRIL 25 .1915 in the obverse legend and instead carries the initials W.J.A. (Carlisle 1915/4). These are almost certainly the initials of W. J. Amor who, in 1919, was advertising himself as “Medallist, Engraver, Designer, and Die sinker”, and whose works were then located at 24 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney. Most of the medallions with the “Prouds” obverse are attributed to Amor.
There are also some variants with the same obverse design as the initial Prouds medallion, but with no obverse legend. These have the following reverses:
– Blank field (for engraving?) surrounded by a wreath, similar to Carlisle 1915/5a (Carlisle ZF01)
– Similar to above, but with FLAVELL, ROBERTS & SANKEY in small letters below the wreath (Carlisle ZF02). Flavell, Roberts & Sankey were Brisbane jewellers.
– A TRIBUTE TO THE MEN WHO HAVE BLED AND DIED FOR THE EMPIRE with THE NEW STATE on a ribbon superimposed over a central wreath and with ‘F Wicks & Co’ below (Carlisle 1915/6a).
– As Carlisle 1915/5, but with the addition of JULY 30 1915 above the map of Australia and AUSTRALIA DAY below. The small initials F W also appear (Carlisle 1915/6b).
Carlisle also lists another variant (Carlisle 1915/19) that seems to be virtually identical to Carlisle 1915/6b above and he attributes this, along with 1915/6a and 1915/6b, to F Wicks & Co (Optometrists and Jewellers of Lismore NSW).
Given the similarity of the above medallions and the likelihood that jewellers in Lismore and Brisbane would not have had their own minting presses, it is most likely that all these medallions were made by Amor, but tailored to the individual firms.
This approach was used by many jewellers around the country, successfully tendering for the local order and then having the medallions struck by a major firm such as Amor or Stokes & Sons.
The “Prouds” medallion (and its variants) was not the only type struck in Sydney for Australia Day. The Sydney Morning Herald of 15th July 1915 included a report that:
The Sydney Art Societies have unanimously agreed to assist Australia Day by striking a special medal. These medals will be sold in gold, silver, and a brass alloy.
On 24th July 1915 The Newsletter: An Australian Paper for Australian People, printed in Sydney, reported that:
The medals issued by the Art Society are to range from 2/6 to £2/2/2-, according to material used. They are to be sold for Australia Day, and have the words ‘Nushi (sic) Yalla’ (get a move) on one side, with an Australian soldier charging up a hill, and on the other ‘Dardanelles, April 25th, 1915‘.
Although the obverse inscription is misspelled, the Sydney Art Society medallion described in this article is undoubtedly the one shown below which was appropriately attributed by Carlisle. The initials on the obverse indicate that it was designed by I G Wright. The Arabic call Imshi Yalla was taken from the Anzac soldiers’ stay in Cairo.
Obverse: IMSHI YALLA / I.G.W. SYDNEY
Reverse: DARDANELLES 1915 / APRIL 25
28mm. Bronze, gilded, silver & gold. Carlisle 1915/10.
This medallion was almost certainly also struck by Amor. While this is not marked on the medallion itself, boxed examples struck in 9ct gold have “AMOR / SYDNEY” on the inside of the lid
New South Wales – Regional
While “Australia Day” originated in Sydney it was enthusiastically adopted in many regional centres in NSW. Some of these towns received allocations of the medallions produced for the Sydney event, including Parkes, Dubbo, Goulburn and Cootamundra. Some had special versions issued in their own names.
A regional NSW variant of the Prouds medallion with the following reverse is known:
Reverse: STOCKINBINGAL / AND / DISTRICT / PATRIOTIC / ASSOCIATION on a blank field
25mm. Gilded. Carlisle 1915/8.
Stockinbingal is a small township near Cootamundra in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales.
Broken Hill also issued its own Australia Day medallion. Despite being in NSW this regional mining centre had closer ties to Melbourne, where the Broken Hill Proprietary Company was headquartered, than to Sydney. Consequently their medallion was produced in Melbourne by Stokes & Sons, based on a design in the form of a Maltese cross that was used for the Victorian Australia Day medallion (see Carlisle 1915/13 below).
Obverse: REMEMBER / THE / DARDANELLES / 1915 with the initials S & S.
Reverse: B / E / L / 1915
28mm. Bronze, gilded. Carlisle 1915/14a.
Carlisle quite reasonably interpreted B.E.L. as referring to the British Empire League. However, an article in the Barrier Miner of 13th August 1915 makes it certain that it was in fact the Barrier Empire League of Broken Hill.
The Barrier Empire League badges have arrived in Broken Hill, and will be distributed at to-night’s meeting at the Town Hall. On the face the medals bear the embossed head of King George V and the words; “Remember the Dardanelles”.’ On the reverse side a flag of Australia is in the centre, with the letters “B.E.L.” placed around, and the date, 1915, beneath. The medallion is in the form of a Maltese cross, around the arms of which a laurel wreath is woven.
South Australia
Adelaide joined in the celebration of Australia Day on 30th July 1915. A medallion was sold as part of the associated fund raising activities, but we have not been able to specifically identify it. However, there are some indications that it might have been Carlisle 1915/14a (see above). This is discussed in Section 2.4 below on the first Anzac Day.
Victoria
In Victoria The Ballarat Star of Saturday 31st July 1915 contained an extensive report that included:
…… The vendors of ”Australia-Day” tokens and emblems had a busy time. At the several railway stations were grouped saleswomen whoso winter dresses were brightened by gold and silver medals, issued by the Central Committee, as authorising badges, bunches of red, white and blue ribbon, and sprays of wattle blossom. They carried trays on which were exposed for sale the ‘Dardanelles’ button with its inscription ‘Lest we forget,’ the Kangaroo button inscribed ‘Australia’s Glory’; the local gum leaf tinged with gold, on which were painted the names of different places now well known to Australians, such as ‘Dardanelles’ and ‘Gaba Tepe’ and attached to a tricolored ribbon and artistically executed ‘Boomerang’ clasps, cigarettes and toothsome confections of all kinds were also obtainable. The vendors had not to beseige (sic) travellers. They were themselves beseiged (sic) for articles, ranging from the gold ‘Australia Day’ medal, at half-a-guinea — which was popularly supposed to free the wearer for the day — to the half-crown and shilling button, and the packet of cigarettes, for which half-a-crown was freely paid.
While this article provides us with a good impression of the range of mementos that were sold on the day, the reference to a gold Australia Day medal is vague. However, it seems likely to refer to the gilded medallion, in the form of a Maltese cross, shown below, which was struck by Stokes & Sons in Melbourne (Carlisle 1915/13). This medal is dated July 30th 1915, but we have not located any information about the date of manufacture. It was probably produced in a similar or slightly later time-frame to the Sydney medallions since the first moves to organise the Australia Day event were made in Sydney and Melbourne would have followed.
Obverse: REMEMBER / THE / DARDANELLES / 1915 with initials S & S
Reverse: JULY / 30TH / 1915 / AUSTRALIA DAY / GOLD / DONOR
31mm. Gilded. Carlisle 1915/13.
Tasmania
In Launceston, Tasmania The Examiner of 14th July 1915 reported that:
“A public meeting was held at Smithton on Monday night to discuss how best to get help for the wounded soldiers on Australia Day. ……….
…………….Mrs. Kent stated that Miss Miller (or perhaps Muler) of Launceston, had offered to supply 1000 medals, to be sold at 1s each, the proceeds to go into the Red Cross fund.”
This is the only reference that we have located to Australia Day being held in Tasmania. It is not clear if the medals referred to were to be acquired from Sydney or Melbourne, or if they were to be produced locally in Tasmania. If the latter, we are not aware of any examples.
Western Australia
In WA, the 30th July 1915 was named “Western (or sometimes West) Australia Day”. For example an advertisement in The Daily News of 12th July 1915 included the following:
……….. the MONSTER AUCTION COMMITTEE desire your hearty co operation in order to make their GREAT SALE an unprecedented success on WESTERN AUSTRALIA DAY, JULY 30.
Some medallions were produced for this event, but known examples do not make any specific reference to the Gallipoli campaign in their legends, so they will not be discussed here.
2.3 Patriotic Day
In Queensland, the Brisbane City Council declared that August 28th 1915 would be “Patriotic Day”. This was a major fund raising day similar in nature to the Australia Day that had recently been held in the other States. Several types of commemorative medallions were struck for the event, some of which made specific reference to the Gallipoli campaign.
The “official” medallion seems to have been Carlisle 1915/14. This was struck in Melbourne by Stokes & Sons and the obverse was the same as the medallion they had produced for Australia Day in Victoria (Carlisle 1915/13, above).
Obverse: REMEMBER / THE / DARDANELLES / 1915 with initials S & S
Reverse: Q.P.F. / QUEENSLAND / MEMENTO / O.E.C.
31mm. Gilded. Carlisle 1915/14.
The cryptic initials Q.P.F. and O.E.C. almost certainly stand for Queensland Patriotic Fund and Official Entertainment Committee. These organisations were deeply involved in Patriotic Day, as shown by a number of contemporary reports such as the following extracts from advertisements that appeared in the The Brisbane Courier on 22nd September 1915:
Queensland‘s Patriotic Day. Special Notice. The Official Entertainment Committee hereby notify the Public that all accounts in connection with Queensland’s Patriotic Day will be CLOSED on September 30th next………….
……………. Under the Auspices of the Official Entertainment Committee and The Hill End and West End Patriotic Fete Committee. PATRIOTIC FETE & CARNIVAL (IN AID OF DISABLED AND WOUNDED SOLDIERS, Q.P.F.)…………….
State archives record that an organisation named the Queensland Patriotic Fund had been formed at the time of the Boer War and was still functioning during World War I.
Patriotic Day was enthusiastically adopted in regional centres and Stokes & Sons produced distinctive medallions for at least two of these.
Obverse: REMEMBRANCE OF DARDANELLES
Reverse: PATRIOTIC DAY MARYBOROUGH / AUG. 1915
23mm. Brass, gilded, silver. Carlisle 1915/15.
An almost identical type was issued with the reverse legend ISIS PATRIOTIC DAY AUG. 1915 (Carlisle 1915/15a). Isis is a regional shire south of Bundaberg.
A variant of the Prouds medallion from Sydney was produced for Cunamulla, across the border in western Queensland, north of Bourke. The obverse was the same as the first Prouds medallion (Carlisle 1915/5).
Obverse: As Carlisle 1915/5
Reverse: FOR GOD KING AND COUNTRY / REMEMBER THE DARDANELLES/
PATRIOTIC DAY / CUNAMULLA/ AUG. 28 / 1915 with F. WICKS & CO in small letters below.
25mm. Silvered, Carlisle 1915/6.
Patriotic Day was repeated in Queensland on the same date in 1916, but it seems that no medallions with specific reference to the Gallipoli campaign were issued on that occasion.
2.4 The First Anzac Day
In Adelaide, the 13th October was a public holiday known as Eight-Hour Day. But in 1915, for that year only, it was renamed “Anzac Day” as a result of a public competition to find the most appropriate name for a major patriotic and fund raising event. Gareth Knapman (2012) writes
The drive to create the first Anzac Day came from Trades Hall’s organising committee. In a show of patriotism, unionists joined with the Gouger Street Traders’ Association and Broken Hill’s Australia Day committee to move the ‘Broken Hill Pageant’ to Adelaide, and promised ‘a gigantic show’.
The usual street march by labour unions was replaced by a large parade headed by a Naval Brigade, some wounded soldiers returned from the front and a large squad of new recruits, followed by numerous patriotic floats. This parade was followed by a number of public spectacles (including a specially staged crash between two trams) and a large carnival centred on the Adelaide Oval.
We have not yet been able to locate any specific references to the production and sale of medallions as part of the day’s fund raising activities. However, there can be little doubt that the following heart shaped medallion was struck in connection with this very first Anzac Day.
Obverse: ANZAC / OCT. 13 / 1915
Reverse: Blank
24 x 28 mm. Copper, silvered. Carlisle 1915/2.
We have noted that the pre-Federation coat of arms on this medallion is the same as the one still used today by the Australian cricket team on their baggy green caps. Whether or not there is any link between this and the location of the Anzac Day carnival at the Adelaide Oval is unknown.
While there is no supporting evidence whatsoever, we are tempted to speculate that another medallion might also have been connected with this 1915 Anzac Day because of some distinct similarities to the one above. Both are fairly crude, uniface medallions and the style and structure of the legend are very much the same in each case (simply ANZAC / DATE / YEAR), but further research is needed.
Obverse: ANZAC / APRIL 25. / 1915
Reverse: Blank
22 mm. Copper. Carlisle 1915/1.
The connection between Adelaide and Broken Hill described above in the creation of Anzac Day might also give a clue to the following conundrum. Reports in newspapers in late July 1915 tell us that a “medal” was included in the mementos sold in Adelaide on Australia Day (30th July 1915). The best description of it that we have been able to find was published in The Register of Adelaide on 29th July 1915:
…………………. Many articles are to be offered for sale at the stalls in addition, among them being attractive looking gilt medals which were struck for the departure of the 1st Australian Expeditionary Force. They have on one side King George’s profile, and the Commonwealth flag on the reverse.
The only medallion that we know of fitting this description is the Broken Hill one (see Carlisle 1915/14a above).
- THE LATER ISSUES – 1916
3.1 RETURNED SOLDIERS
There are numerous references in newspapers of the period to gold medallions being presented to returned soldiers, but very few of these reports include any description of the design(s).
Carlisle only lists one medallion of this type (Carlisle 1915/9), but they seem to have been issued on a local basis rather than as part of any State-wide or national scheme, so it is possible that other types exist. They were not official military medals.
Carlisle 1915/9 carries the date 1915, but this refers to the date of the Gallipoli campaign and not necessarily the date of issue. References to presentation pieces like this began to appear from late 1915, but the majority appeared in 1916 and some even later.
Obverse: GALLIPOLI / 1915 / FAMES
Reverse: HE HEARD HIS COUNTRY’S CALL / 1915 / with the initials R.B.O.
24 mm. Gold (9ct). Carlisle 1915/9. Attributed to R B Orchard of Sydney.
Only a very small number of press reports of the time included partial descriptions of the medallions. Where present these were generally consistent with Carlisle 1915/9. For example, in the Robertson Advocate (NSW) of 8th September 1916:
……… the Mayor (Ald. J. W. Loseby) asked the returned men to step forward and presented each with a gold Gallipoli medal, bearing on one side a picture of the landing, and on the other an inscription, appropriate to the occasion, “He heard his Country’s Call”.
The word “Fames” is inscribed on the pedestal on which the female figure stands, holding a laurel wreath (a symbol of victory) above the advancing soldiers and writing on a scroll draped over an altar. This has been interpreted as the name of the designer, but we can find no record of a designer or medallist of that name. It may simply be a classical allusion. “Fames” were allegorical figures sometimes used in triumphal art associated with military success. They often appeared in conjunction with female figures of Victories and military trophies of arms. The female figure shown here could be inscribing the soldiers’ names on a “roll of fame”.
3.2 EDUCATION DEPARTMENT VICTORIA
In 1916 the Education Department of Victoria commissioned a medallion from Stokes & Sons to be sold in schools.
An article in The Ballarat Star of 15th -April 1916 included the following information:
The Anzac Medallion. — Great interest is being manifested in connection with the special bronze medallion which has been prepared by the executive of the Education Department Patriotic Fund for sale in the schools on the 20th inst. In all 150,000 of the medallions have been ordered, but present indications are that the supply may not be equal to the demand.
Obverse: FOR KING AND COUNTRY / 1916 with S. & S. in small letters.
Reverse: DEPT.OF.EDUCATION. VICTORIA. / ANZAC / LEST.WE.FORGET.25.APR.15.
27 mm. Bronze, silvered, gilded, silver. Carlisle 1916/2.
References
Leslie J Carlisle, Australian Historical Medals, 1788-1988, Ligare Book printing, Sydney 2008.
Gareth Knapman, Adelaide and the birth of Anzac Day, in Legacies of War, Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd, Melbourne 2012.
National Australia Day Council http://www.australiaday.org.au/australia-day/history/
Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac-day/
In researching this article the authors made extensive use of the excellent Trove website created by the National Library of Australia (http://trove.nla.gov.au). Individual references are available from us on request.