City of Armadale - History House > Records

60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF WORLD WAR II MEDAL CASE

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2005

Overview

A black box with lid attached. Inside the raised base has a circular indentation to hold the medal in place. There is text on the inside and the outside of the lid. Outside; [Australian Government / Department of Veterans' Affairs] beneath the Australian Coat of Arms, and inside; [60th Anniversary of the / end of world war II / For Service to Australia].

Historical information

This medallion was presented to John Christmass in 2005. It was created by the Federal Government to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the end of World War Two. John had enlisted with the Royal Australian Air Forces in 1939. He also spent nearly 30 years as musical director for the Perth Anzac Day Service.
John Christmass moved to the Kelmscott area in the 1970s. John had taught music since the 1940s and later joined the Department of Education and was in charge of their choral music program.
In 1985 he retired from the education department and focussed his time on teaching and promoting music from his Kelmscott office. From there he managed the I Voci Choir which was made up of past students from Perth Modern School aged 18-30.
John was the musical director for the Perth Anzac Day Services from 1971 to the early 2000s, he started the 1st Vienna Pops concert and the Best of British concert at the Perth Concert Hall in c1987 and 1991 respectively to help raise money for Rotary. He directed his last in 2013 and 2012. He was presented with the Order of Australia in 2012, for his services to music, plus many other local and state awards over the years.
Locally he directed many concerts, taught music, advocated for a concert venue in the City of Armadale and was a strong advocate for the local art and culture scene.
The award provides a connection to the long and distinguished career of John Christmass who has played an important role in music education as well as promoting music and choral music in Western Australia. John has also managed to raise many hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-33-COA2016.78A

Themes

People
Social History
War and Conflict

Material

Cardboard

Width

820 mm

Height or length

680 mm

Keywords

John Christmass

World War Two

Department of Veteran Affairs, Commonwealth of Australia

Year

2005

Statement of significance

This object is part of a collection of items that tells the story of the creativity and ingenuity of members of the local community in relation to art, design and engineering/construction. The collection relates to expressions of creativity that impacted an individual or small group of people to objects that have been enjoyed around the world.

Comparative significance criteria

Interpretive capacity

Rare or representative

Well provenanced

City of Armadale - History House

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