Jump to content
News Ticker
  • I am now accepting the following payment methods: Card Payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal
  • Latest News

    Mossy

    For Deletion
    • Posts

      191
    • Joined

    • Last visited

    Posts posted by Mossy

    1. Michael, fantastice medal and research! I haven't found a Colonial LS&GC to a man with war service (Though there is one possible.), though in most colonies war service counted as double time. It seems that alot of these men were kept for home defence rather than sent out. I have seen a couple of examples where the recipient has had war service, but i didn't get much of a look at them to determine how they worked regarding years of service and what units they were attached to.

      Come on people, there must be more of these hiding in peoples drawers or shoeboxes or wherever you keep your medals! :P

      Cheers,

      Sam.

    2. Another one to join the ranks! Picked this up in a recent auction and it's winging its way over to me as we type.

      Another EDVII issue, this time to "546 SPR. H. MORTON. AE. 4.4.08". A Sapper from the New South Wales branch of the Australian Engineers, with service in the New South Wales Engineers prior to federation. These guys were kept very busy over the entirety of their existence, fortifying ports and other stategic points along the coast. The N.S.W. engineers would have been working in N.S.W. prior to federation, but just before and after federation they would have been sent to other states (Usually Western Australia and Queensland and the northern part of South Australia, which would later become the Northern Territory.) to help their defence efforts. A point worth noting is the defences of Sydney harbour was never really finished and was constantly in either a state of disrepair or undergoing a change in methods of defence (The 'keep him out' or 'lure him in' approaches were juggled from decade to decade.)

      With a date of award on the 4th of April in 1908, Morton would have to have served since at least 1888, definetly a very busy time.

      More research forthcoming.

      Sam.

    3. Randy,

      Welcome, and i am sorry to hear of your loss.

      The medal is the Canadian General Service Medal and was awarded for taking part in one of three campaigns: the 1866 Fenian raids, the 1870 Fenian raids, and the Red River 'rebellion' of 1870. Your medal was awarded for the first of these campaigns, the 1866 raids, hence the clasp. Different clasps were issued for the different campaigns.

      Hopefully someone should be able to verify your medal on the rolls for you, but i doubt anyone would fake these medals as they are quite easy to find.

      There are a couple good references out there, the names of which elude me at the moment, but a brief introduction can be found on wikipedia (Though i loath sending you there.), just search for "Fenian Raids" and that will give you a brief overview of the entire situation.

      Cheers,

      Sam.

    4. Recently i picked up a nice silver shooting fob for the 1st L.A.V. (Launceston Artillery Volunteer) carbine club, awarded to "Bombr. Dick, No. 8 Company" in 1892. The front has a shield with the following inscription "H.D. to M.H.", not quite sure what that means, any ideas?

      What occoured to me as i bidded on the piece was how short some volunteers' service could be in Australia, even as low as two and three years. This being because of either lack of interest in the volunteer movement, or financial recession, or even a towns population dropping. In addition, the Colonial LS&GC medal/s were for twenty years service and the earliest was introduced as late as 1892. Logically, all of what could be left of some volunteers service would be fobs and prizes such as these.

      In this case, however, the 1st L.A.V. was formed quite early and was eventually rolled into the Federal forces during the re-organisation following federation.

      Unfortunatly my scanner is off line, so no photos of this piece.

      Please post your own pieces or thoughts on what place these unofficial prizes have in militaria collecting. Some people see these as little tid-bits that hold no real interest as they are not an officially sanctioned medal or award, whilst others (Including myself) view them with a little more interest. I have seen a medal bar where the recipient had his award mounted with his Colonial LS&GC and Victoria LS&GC medals, so he obviously felt similar, though it's worth noting he also had two other sports awards that are unmounted.

      Sam.

    5. Lastly, courtesy of the Australian War Memorial (Fantastic research and verification site!) Lieutenant J W Castine's sword (Note the Lieutenant part.) Copied as usual, i hate the idea of mis-translations on my part, hence the copy and past approach and full sourcing.

      Interesting to note it states he is a member of the House of Assembely which means he was on the winning team of the above competition! :P

      ID Number: REL/19530

      Title: British Pattern 1827 Officer's Sword and Scabbard : Lieutenant J W Castine, South Australian Rifle Volunteer Force

      Maker: Unknown

      Object type: Edged Weapon or Club

      Place made: United Kingdom

      Physical description: British Pattern 1827 Rifle Officer's sword and scabbard. The hilt has a bronzed steel Pattern 1827 three bar half basket guard with a crown over a stringed bugle cartouche badge and a brass wire bound fishskin grip. The slightly curved Pattern 1845 blade has a single fuller to each side and etched for three quarters of the length. On the right side there is the royal VR cypher and a banner with J.W. CASTINE. The left side has a banner with SOUTH AUSTRALIAN RIFLE VOLUNTEER FORCE and on the ricasso the miltary outfitter's name of HOBSON & SONS LITTLE WINDMILLS LONDON. The steel scabbard originally had a bronze finish to match the guard and has two loose hanger rings on bands at 2 and 10.5 inches from the throat.

      Summary: This sword was used by Lieutenant J W Castine, an officer of the South Australian Rifle Volunteer Force. Castine was a member of the SA House of Assembly 1884-1902.

      Copyright: Status to be assessed

      Related subject: Scabbards; Swords

      Related unit: South Australian Military Forces

      Related place: Australia: South Australia

      Related conflict: Colonial Period, 1788-1901

    6. Parliamentary Rifle Match

      Photograph of a large composite photograph in the shape of a plaque, commemorating the Parliamentary Rifle Match held in August 1889. The competition (seven shots at 400 and 500 yards range, Wimbledon scoring) was between representatives from the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly, and was won by the former. In additions to individual portraits of the participants, their individual scores are also recorded. To see the individual images do number searches on B 39101/1 to B 39101/12.

      1889

      Unfortunatly, i can't find the individual images, so he's in there somewhere as are his scores, so for the moment we won't know just how accurate he was. :P

    7. John William Castine

      Lieutenant John William Castine

      1926

      Yes, the date and the rank are strange, though i've yet to find out why. It could be it is wrongly named and is in fact his son, or at some point was heavily demoted, can't imagine why though. No idea on the badge on his jacket, i'm planning a trip to Adelaide so will have to stop in and try to get a close look at the original. Any ideas though, despite quality?

    8. A member on another forum, a fellow Aussie, has supplied me with some more information on the Castine family. I'm suprised by what's come to light, and suprised no one else ever found it either as this sort of info usually adds a premium to these medals.

      JW Carstine was born in Plymouth, Devon on 26/5/46 and died at Royston Park (buried at Auburn) on 13/6/39. He started off as a storekeeper and stock valuer and ended up a politician. He married Nannie Barkla on 16.12.68 with son Ernest arriving the following year. EW Carstine (One of his sons, and another politician) died on 8.2.1955. I was curious about his quick succession of marriages, but his first wife died 28/6/22. He then started a family at 52!

      There are also several photos from the SA library that were found by my friend, to whom all credit and many many thanks must go to, Jon chittleborough. The wording of the captions has been retained unchanged.

      Ministers controlling education in SA : John William Castine

      Portrait of John William Castine who was Minister for Education from 12 May 1893 to 16 June 1893. From a pictorial composite entitled 'Ministers controlling Education - South Australia 1874-1902' - the entire composite can be viewed by doing a number search on B 6725.

      ca.1902

    9. Now that's a turn up, i would have imagined anything to do with WW2 service on the side of the Axis would have been hidden away for fear of reprisals, were things different with Bulgaria? I know that they were treated a bit differently than other nations, being allowed to keep the territory they annexed from Romania, for example. Perhaps the same went for medals, are there any more like this out there?

      Sam.

    10. Ranjit,

      As far as i am aware, the Portuguese simply vacated East Timor when the Japanese moved in. They had spent little effort on doing anything in East Timor in regards to infrastructure, and this would not change after the war either. Australian troops fought there for a period, and were aided by the Timorese. The were 150 Portuguese soldiers, but this was likely to be a force comprising of both Timorese and Portugese men.

      Although i am unable to directly answer the question regarding medals, i doubt anything was issued, bar perhaps a unit or regimental-style unoffical commemorative medal. As to uniforms, i would suggest that they would have been standard tropical style uniforms, similar to Portuguese Africa issue (Whatever that be) and would not have lasted long once the Japanese invaded.

      A question is raised however, as to whether any of these men might have been awarded Australian medals for their service in Australian units or aiding them. I will have to look into that a bit further, although there is not much out there.

      All the best,

      sam.

    11. I am, after all, i never thought i'd find a Victorian era officers decoration and after the above set, well, much rejoicing!

      Ah, well if you're interested in exploration, that's easy! Another one of my interests there, let me put a bit of stuff together and i'll post something in the next few days. In fact, worth noting are the similarities between exploration in Australia and South Africa, but i'll post more on that elsewhere.

      Sam.

    12. Mervyn: Actually, its just coincidence these three are all South Australian. I've been desperatly hunting one to a Western Australian (My home state) but with very little luck which unsuprising as WA has the lowest issues of any state and recieved none before Edward VII. But what i wouldn't give for one! These medals were actually pretty hard to find before, especially over here, but more have gradually appeared in recent times.

      Perth had now overtaken Adelaide for wowsers, being dubbed 'Dullsville'. Although i'm reasonably negative about federation, i don't really do so seriously, i couldn't imagine a divided Australia. Friendly internal rivalry is quite fun actually. :cheeky:

      Are you refering to the postings on the 40th Regiment, regarding the exploratory travels? If so, more is on its way, but i'm verifying certain locations and dates. Early Australian records are often badly recorded, although what makes it worse is when recent historians have rewritten them with their own agendas. :mad:

      Sam.

    13. Arthur R: Thank you, i wonder how many sets exist out there that contain both the medal and the decoration? It'd require a serious amount of service, but i'm sure some would have racked up such time.

      I know i posted this some time back, but thought i'd add it here as well. It's another Colonial LSGC medal to another South Australian. This one is named to A Lindsay, a gunner in the South Australian Artillery. The medal was awarded on the 04/07/1905. Full naming: "32 GUNNER A. LINDSAY S.A. AUS. FIELD ARTY. 4.7.05".

      Andrew Lindsay was born on the 17th of April, 1857 in Adelaide (South australia) to Robert and Mary Lindsay. His wife was Jane Skemmer Lindsay (Nee McKinley) and he was a Presbyterian.

      He enlisted in the South australian Volunteer Field Artillery, a part time militia, in 1880 to the camp at Fort Glanville. The SAVFA would later change its name to the Australian Garrison Artillery in 1901 due to federation (Boo!)

      His long service medal, only entitlement, was awarded on the 8th of July, 1905 for 20 years part time service.

      Here's a link to a pretty good site about Fort Glanville, lots of photos and a '360 degree tour':

      http://www.communitywebs.org/FortGlanville...t_Glanville.htm

      If anyone else has any Colonial LSGC medals to show, please add them. And i'm not just talking about Australians only, any outpost of empire is welcome here! :cheers:

      Sam.

    14. Thank you Mervyn, and you're quite correct, it was a small contingent, some 119 in fact with 4 casualties. There is such information, but our nations obsession with Gallipoli tends to relegate our contribution to the Boer War to a small, dusty corner of history making sources difficult to locate. Not going to stop me searching of course! What has puzzled me however, is the Lieutenants medal. If he was an officer, why has he recieved the medal not the Officers Decoration? The awarding rules mentioned in 'Australians Awarded' do read, however, "The recipient can be of any rank, but if an officer he would not have had the time required in the commissioned rank to qualify for the Officers Decoration." This could indicate he did in fact serve in the Boer war as a sergeant or lance-corporal and got his promotion to lieutenant, and medal, later. If anyone with more knowledge of long service award regulations could confirm this, it would be greatly appreciated.

      All the best,

      Sam.

    ×
    ×
    • Create New...

    Important Information

    We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.