446728
- Title[Sydney Cove medallion], 1789 (original issue) / Josiah Wedgwood
- Creator
- Call numberSAFE/P*66
Status: On display. Objects Gallery. Case 3, Shelf 44 - Level of descriptionfonds
- Date
1789 - Type of material
- Reference code446728
- Issue CopyDigitised
- Physical DescriptionObjects - 1 clay medallion, brown in colour - stored in circular wooden frame with glass panel on front and back ; approx. 5.6 cm. medallion (max. diam.); 8.8 cm frame (max. diam.) - Probably framed by the Australian Museum.
- Scope and ContentSydney Cove medallion titled: `Hope encouraging Art and Labour, under the influence of Peace, to pursue the employments necessary to give security and happiness to an infant settlement'.
Obverse: Bas-relief design featuring three women and a man in classical dress, personifying Hope, addressing Peace, Art, and Labour, between images of a sailing ship (on the left), houses and a windmill on a hill (on the right), and a basket of fruit (centre foreground) that denotes plenty.
Reverse: Impressed `Made by Iosiah Wedgwood of Clay from Sydney Cove'. - Access Conditions
Access via appointment - General note
The medallion commemorates the landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788.
On 16 November 1788 in Sydney Cove, Governor Arthur Phillip sent Sir Joseph Banks a box containing red ochre, and also white clay `with wch the Natives mark themselves, it is found in great plenty, a few feet below the surface ... the people use it to cover their Houses.' A second box was described as containing sand `found in sinking a well' which Phillip thought `has Black lead in it.' (Sir Joseph Banks Electronic Archive, Series 37.08)
Banks sent the clays to his friend Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) who used them to issue a medallion, now known as the Sydney Cove Medallion, commemorating the settlement at Sydney. Modelled by William Hackwood (fl. 1780-d. 1836) after a design by Henry Webber (1754-1826) in 1789, it shows `Hope encouraging Art and Labour under the influence of Peace, to pursue the employments necessary to give security and happiness to an infant colony'.
A number of Sydney Cove medallions and a cup were sent to Phillip at Sydney Cove, and on 26 July 1790 he wrote to Banks saying: `Wedgwood has showed the world that our Welch [New South Welsh] Clay is capable of receiving an Eligant commission, & I return thanks for the Cup & Medallions'. (Sir Joseph Banks Electronic Archive, Series 37.12)
The medallions were produced in three distinct colours: pale cream, brown and black depending on which clay was used. It is not known how many medallions were produced, but the number is likely to be small, nor is there any record of how many were sent to Phillip. The word `Etruria', which appears on the obverse of the medallion, was the name Wedgwood gave to his new factory in 1769, after the region in Italy.
Eleven medallions are known to have survived; five are held in the Mitchell Library: P*66 ; P*67 ; P*68 ; PM 132 ; PM 133. No cups are known to have survived. -- Curator's Notes, Mitchell Library, 2005.
Notes on the Wedgwood Medallions, compiled by the Mitchell Library, are located at Aw 127.
This item has been digitised as part of the Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection, 2005.
Digital order no:Album ID : 874446 - Signatures / Inscriptions
Place and date of manufacture in raised (sprigged) text beneath image on obverse: `Etruria / 1789'
Impressed text on reverse: `Made By / Iosiah Wedgwood / of Clay / From / Sydney Cove' - Creator/Author/Artist
- Name
- Topic
- Place
- Exhibited in
Nelson Meers Foundation Heritage Collection - State Library of New South Wales (April 2006 - March 2007)
All in a Day's work: workers in Australia 1788-1939 - State Library of New South Wales - Open Rosetta viewer
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