French, shield-shaped medallion

View this record on the National Museum of Australia's website

Type: Medallions
Place: France
Materials: Brass
Collection: Olive King collection
Accession number: 2004.0060.0006

Description

A French, shield-shaped medallion with a small suspender ring at the top. The obverse features the overlapped profiles of a French soldier wearing an Adrian pattern helmet, and a Viking-like bearded warrior figure wearing a winged helmet and carrying a shield. The text "VOC[?] VICTIS" is positioned in the top left corner. The reverse has the figure of 'Liberty' surveying the battlefield in front of French troops. 'The text "Verdun" is positioned at the top and "BRON" and a triangle are impressed in the rim.

About the collection

The Olive King collection consists of ten commemorative medallions and plaques covering themes related to the First World War in Europe, including items produced as propaganda and to inspire patriotism. The collection also contains three Australian commemorative medallions. This collection relates directly to Olive King's work as an ambulance driver during the First World War. King was born into a wealthy family in Sydney, and decided to become an ambulance driver when war broke out while she was visiting her sister in England. She bought a French Alda truck which she had converted into an ambulance capable of seating 16 patients, and worked with the Allied Field Ambulance Corps in Belgium before joining the Scottish Women's Hospitals for Foreign Service. After six months in France she spent the next five years in Serbia travelling to the front, transporting men, recovering wounded and establishing Australian Serbian Canteens to support displaced Serbian families and soldiers. She was awarded the Serbian Silver Medal for Bravery, the Gold Medal for Zealous Conduct, the Samaritan Cross and the Cross of the Order of St Sava. The commemorative medallions in this collection illustrate King's war-time work and her interest in and commitment to the causes for which she was fighting.

Read live from the Museum's Collection API (12/11/2026, 6:26:25 am). Record last updated by the Museum 2025-02-17. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.