Summary

Badge, alternatively known as a button, part of a collection of buttons assembled by the donor while active in left-wing politics at the University Melbourne, circa 1979-86. The badge depicts a Michael Leunig cartoon. Leunig is a well-known Australian cartoonist who first had his work published in the Monash University student newspaper, Lot's Wife, while a student in the 1960s. He began to have work more widely published in the early 1970s. He has been named an Australian Living Treasure by the National Trust. His work is known for its idiosyncratic and sometimes controversial perspective and this badge is no exception. It suggests a rejection of the 'No Smoking' edict of the 1970s and 1980s, depicting instead its subject clearly enjoying a cigarette.

Physical Description

This is a circular button, in metal with a printed front and covered with plastic. A safety pin is threaded through the two holes in back. The front has a coloured drawing by Michael Leunig of a man smoking a large cigarette. It has a white background with the person drawn in black, his shirt coloured orange, the cigarette end red and the cross-hatch background in various colours.

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