WWI era patriotic badge 'Lest we forget Australia's Heroes'

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c. 1915

Overview

Circular badge or button sold during World War One to appeal to the patriotic citizens on the home front in Australia in 1915. It is made from printed paper between a tin base and celluloid cover.
It features a central gold crown nested within a circular gold laurel wreath on a pearl background. Arched along the top perimeter is the text 'LEST WE FORGET', with 'AUSTRALIA'S HEROES' curving along the bottom border, both printed in gold.
The reverse has a metal back with a void into which a metal pin is secured for attachment.

Historical information

This badge was produced during World War One (circa 1915) as a piece of home-front patriotic ephemera. While a vast majority of button badges during this era were sold by official charitable groups—such as the Commonwealth Button Fund—to support wounded soldiers and military comfort funds, contemporary archival evidence indicates this specific design was widely sold across suburban and regional Australian centres for profit.

A contemporary letter to the editor published in the Brunswick and Coburg Leader on Friday 30 July 1915 under the title 'Exploiting the War' reads as follows:

To the Editor.
Sir,-I would like to call attention to a "'button" that is being sold on a very large scale in most of the suburbs and in many country centres that I have visited of late. It is a purple button with a crown, in the centre a wreath, and the words "Lest we forget Australian heroes."
This button, I understand, has not been issued by the Commonwealth Button Fund. This button is sold for private profit. It is sold to the trade for 2s per dozen, and sold to the public for 3d each. It is high time someone had this thing suppressed.
-Yours, etc., ALBERT L. AMBRY. Brunswick, 24th July.

This design was produced and distributed to the trade for private commercial sale, reflecting the immense public demand for visual symbols of wartime solidarity, patriotism, and early remembrance.
However, it is perhaps unfair to single out the maker of this particular button.
Other button manufacturers who supplied the buttons to the Commonwealth Button Fund and other charitable organisations also made a profit when you consider how much they cost to produce from the raw materials and what they charged for the completed product.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-119-RoW01164

Item type

Badges

Collectibles

Ephemera

Themes

Social History

War and Conflict

War and Conflict > World War 1

Material