Summary

Australia Victoria Melbourne
Medal - Melbourne International Juvenile Industrial Exhibition Commemorative 1879 - 80 (AD)
Other Details: Medal issued to commemorate the Juvenile Industrial Exhibition held in Melbourne in 1879-80. Interestingly, the title of the Exhibition provided on the Official Catalogue was 'Intercolonial' rather than 'International'. Australia had not had an 'international' exhibition before 1879, but three months before Melbourne's Juvenile Industrial Exhibition opened Sydney opened its own 'International Exhibition', a sub-set of which was a Juvenile Industrial Exhibition. Melbourne may have updated its title to avoid being outdone by Sydney - but the competitors still only came from British Empire colonies in Australia (mainly Victoria), New Zealand and Fiji. In 1880 Melbourne opened its first genuinely international exhibition, the massive Melbourne International Exhibition at the new exhibition buildings in Carlton Gardens. The president of Melbourne's Juvenile Industrial Exhibition was Redmond Barry, a pre-eminant Melbourne figure in the nineteenth century. Barry strongly supported public education, and the intention of the Exhibition was 'purely as an Educational Movement, undertaken with a view of inciting a spirit of healthy emulation in the minds of the youth of both sexes throughout the Australian Colonies' (Official Catalogue, p.iii). Gold and silver medals and certificates of merit were awarded to outstanding entrants. Prizes in money and articles were also presented to the 'best inventors and best exhibits'. Thirty-four classes of exhibits were shown at the Exhibition, including machinery, metalwork, agricultural implements, vehicles, painting, sign-writing, furniture and other domestic items, leatherwork, shoes, clothes, collections of natural materials, modelling and sculpture, drawing, photography, jewellery, musical instruments, food, soap, writing, etc. The exhibition was opened by the Governor on 23 December 1879.

Physical Description

A bronze medal (22mm diameter) featuring the monogram JIE (Juvenile Industrial Exhibition) and a shield within an olive wreath. The medal has a hole at 12.

Obverse Description

At centre as monogram, JIE; on left, 1879; on right, 1880; around, MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL (the monogram letters stand for: Juvenile Industrial Exhibition)

Reverse Description

Shield below rising sun within olive wreath

Edge Description

Plain

Significance

The president of the Juvenile Industrial Exhibition was Redmond Barry, a pre-eminant Melbourne figure in the nineteenth century. Barry strongly supported public education, and the intention of the Exhibition was 'purely as an Educational Movement, undertaken with a view of inciting a spirit of healthy emulation in the minds of the youth of both sexes throughout the Australian Colonies, and so bringing out any latent genius with which they may be naturally gifted...an incentive will be given for theprofitable employment of young persons of their evenings and other leisure times, which otherwise...would in too many instances be wasted, if not actually misspent, and thereby habits of listlessness and idleness be engendered, leading, in some cases, to the spread of that unruly disposition which is so rife in many parts of this Colony, and which threatens, if not checked, to interfere with the peace of then general community.' (Official Catalogue, p.iii)

Gold and silver medals and certificates of merit were awarded to outstanding entrants. Prizes in money and articles were also presented to the 'best inventors and best exhibits'.

Thirty-four classes of exhibits were shown at the Exhibition, including machinery, metalwork, agricultural implements, vehicles, painting, sign-writing, furniture and other domestic items, leatherwork, shoes, clothes, collections of natural materials, modelling and sculpture, drawing, photography, jewellery, musical instruments, food, soap, writing, etc.

The exhibition was opened by the Governor on 23 December 1879. - Official Catalogue: Intercolonial Juvenile Industrial Exhibition, Melbourne, 1879-80. -D. Tout-Smith 5/12/2003.

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