NAVAL TRANSPORT COALING BATTALION BADGE
 

Hi
would any one have photos of this badge and also info as to how long this unit was in service ?

Cheers Rob

I have a very poor quality photo somewhere in my picture files, will see what I can do. The unit is quite well documented on Google. From memory I think it had something to do with breaking the 1917 General Strike which was seen as a threat to the war effort. Quite a rare badge. I saw one in an auction years ago which was on a leather tab of all things. Presumably this was because coal heavers did not wear suits with a buttonhole for a lapel badge.

Yes that's correct but there was a enamel badge with a lapel button on the back and numbered also this is the one l am referring to same as the enamel naval transport badge in shape and size and looks.

From AWM site :

"In June 1916 a quasi-military Naval Transport Coaling Battalion operating under the auspices of the Navy Department was formed to operate from Sydney. The short-lived battalion was disbanded in 1917 and the badges forfeit following industrial unrest."

Thanks for finding this piece as I looked but could not find anything, this badge pictured is one type an the other photo is the lapel enamelled badge . So i would imagine both are very scarce types to find ? any one have either ?

Badge pix
 

The badges are 33 mm high

Kingsley is this your badge ? and how hard is it to find one ?? I would imagine price would be high

I would rate it a 'hen's teeth rare' badge.

Mick

So what would a badge be worth if you could find one?

Hard to say - maybe $1000+ perhaps.

Mick

From a newspaper article dated 8th April 1916 :

" and he intended to swear in under naval discipline 300 men to form the battalion. Two hundred would be in Sydney and 100 in Melbourne , and if necessary men would also be sworn in at Freemantle and Newcastle".


From 1917 article regarding returning badges:

"I cannot promise that all the badges will be returned. I believe many of my members, now in France, took their badges with them as souvenirs, and some by now are probably buried with their holders."

Thanks Mike a very interesting read , I wonder what number they started with when they issued them . Kingsley can you show the rear of the badge please. Mike if find any other info please post it .

Rob

There is an article that was published in "Australian Association for Maritime History" magazine in 2000 titled :

"AUSTRALIA'S NAVAL COALING BATTALION 1916-17: THE BRIEF MILITARISATION OF THE SYDNEY COAL LUMPERS".

It is available to read online (free) if you register with this site ;

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/415...n_tab_contents

The brass one (in earlier photo) was sold at auction by Noble (Australia) in 2001 for $540.

"NAVAL TRANSPORT COALING BATTALION BADGE IN BRASS, No.944, letters and figures impressed, by Stokes & Son, Melbourne. With leather strap attached to lugs, very fine and rare."

Rear of badge as requested.