Small metal numbers were once used to signify the badge numbers of police officers. Using the small holes or loops, the numbers were hand-sewn to the high, stiff, and uncomfortable collar of an officer’s tunic. These particular numbers —two fours and a six—were found in the desk of Albert Edward Wallbank (1887-1953), an officer at […]
Broken Hill’s Amalgamated Miners Association (AMA) and the Barrier Labour Foundation (BLF) instigated badge show days in 1913. The wearing of badges was compulsory for all members and instigated to boost union membership and prevent ‘scabs’ (non-union labour) from entering or working on the mines. Mining managers had hired scabs during the long 1909 strike, […]
In January 1888 a thirty-mile stretch of train track was opened with much pomp and ceremony on the western border of New South Wales. It’s hard to imagine now but the construction of this infrastructure, when the only modes of transport were bullock train, camel, and horse and cart, was vital and revolutionary in its […]
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