Summary

Alternative Name(s): Sweetheart Brooch, Sweetheart Badge

Rising sun sweetheart brooch, Australian Commonwealth Military Forces, featuring 7th Battalion colours (brown over red - colloquially known as 'mud and blood'). Based on a pattern for the rising sun badge which was used from 1904 to 1949 (including the inscription).

The 7th Battalion was raised by Lieutenant Colonel H. E. 'Pompey' Elliott in Victoria within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 - one of the first infantry units raised for the AIF during World War I. The Battalion embarked just two months later, and was part of the Gallipoli landings and many later actions on the Western Front. The Battalion was disbanded after World War I, and during World War II assumed a primarily garrison role, including involvement in Bougainville 1944-45.

Although the provenance of this brooch is unknown, it is more liley to date from World War I, given the level of engagment of the 7th Battalion at that time, and the similarity of a World War I badge in the collection of the Australian War Memorial (2/3 Battalion, REL/18786).

Physical Description

Gilt rising sun brooch with pin on reverse. Rectangular enamel colour patch of the 7th Battalion, with brown on top and red below, white enamel border. The brooch is somewhat crudely made, probably mass-produced, with the pin solder clearly visible on the reverse.

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