|
|
Rare Badges & Clubs 1.
Click thumbnails for
enlargements.
Australian Volunteer Automobile Corps
 The formation
of an Australian Volunteer Automobile Corps was approved by the Government in Commonwealth Gazette No. 22 of 9th May 1908
and Military Order 119 of 1908. Cars were provided at no
cost by the owners and all members were given the
provisional rank of Lieutenant in the Australian Army, and given an allowance of 12/6d per day while on duty (chauffeurs
received 5/- per day). Between 1908 and 1915 units of the
AVAC were formed in all state Military Districts except
Western Australia. Members were usually drawn from the state automobile clubs which, in most cases, assisted the
military in recruiting members, although the AVAC was
a unit of the army and not an offshoot of the
automobile clubs. The AVAC was disbanded in 1915 after the army decided to supply mechanical transport of its own in 1914. The design
of the corp's insignia was the result of a request to all
districts for submission of designs and a joint entry by
NSW and Victoria was eventually approved on 25th January 1909. The Quarter
Master General specified that the wheel and crown of the badge be silver
gilt with gold, the balance silver (plate) with enamel in highlights.
The central wheel of the badge was derived from the emblem of the Automobile
Club of Australia, many of whose members comprised the New South Wales division
of the AVAC. The motto Sicut Aquilae Pennis means
Upon Wings of Eagles. This is a rare example
of an AVAC car badge and was acquired from an extensive collection of
militaria. One other example was sold at auction in 2007.
Many reproductions of this badge have been made but lack
the enamelling and crispness of casting in the
originals. ©
 AVAC cap & collar
badges.
 AVAC activities in Sydney 1909 (courtesy RACA).
Returned Soldiers' Transport
Corps
 Unlike the AVAC, the Returned Soldiers' Transport Corps was not an army unit but an offshoot of
the Automobile Club of Queensland. Volunteers
from the club had been assisting the military with
the transport of returning wounded soldiers to the Military Hospital at Kangaroo
Point in Brisbane from 1915 in conjunction with the Taxi
Drivers' Association. In 1917 the ACQ formed a
separate committee to oversee this activity and titled it
the Returned Soldiers' Transport Corps and a special badge
was issued to members involved in this activity. The years
1918 and 1919 saw great numbers of returning troops transported by the RSTC and the TDA, but by 1920 this had markedly
decreased and the corps was finally disbanded in 1921.
Four RSTC badges are known to have survived, two of which are in the
RACQ archives and two in private hands. More information on the RSTC
is to be found in my book Car Badges of the RACQ. ©
 © Members of the RSTC
on an outing in 1920. Note the badges on two of the
cars.
Gympie Automobile
Club
 During the 1920s a number of
automobile clubs were formed serving local areas of
Queensland in such centres as Townsville, Maroochy,
Buderim, Toowoomba and Gympie. In 1922 the RACQ
Council decided to extend the club's activities into
country areas by the formation of branches and by 1930
almost 40 such branches were operating. These charged
members a fee and remitted part of this to RACQ
headquarters in Brisbane in return for services
provided by the parent club. Gradually through the
1920s several of the local automobile clubs decided
to join the RACQ branch system, including the Gympie Automobile Club, whose members voted to become an RACQ branch at a meeting
on 6th November 1924. The badge shown here is the only
known surviving example of this club's badge, although some reproductions
were made several years ago using metal from a Victa motor
mower, in an attempt to replicate the alloy used in the originals! ©
Commonwealth Motorists
Association Ltd.
 Mystery surrounds the origin and history of
this elusive club. This fob badge is the only known relic
of the organisation and all my enquiries and research have failed to uncover any records of the club's formation, its purpose
or location. It was no doubt Australian as the badge was
made by Angus & Coote of Sydney and is numbered 54,
indicating it was not simply a prototype. Angus and Coote made badges for many organisations around Australia, not just
for the Sydney market, so the manufacturer gives little
indication of where the club originated. The author has
conducted research at the National Library of Australia, Mitchell Library and NSW State Archives in Sydney, and the Latrobe
Library in Melbourne, scouring through early telephone and
business directories and any other available records which
may have shed light on the club. A photo and description of the badge was published in The Automobile magazine in
the UK, seeking information from worldwide motoring
enthusiasts, to no avail. The design of the badge depicts
an early veteran car without headlights and with stylised wings and wreath - both motifs used in other early
motoring badges, and the workmanship and design is
consistent with other badges produced in the early 20th
century. The veteran radiator depicted on the badge is surmounted on each side
by a waratah flower, the floral emblem of New South Wales. This may indicate the
association was based in that State. Anyone able to provide any information on
the Commonwealth Motorists Association or this CMA badge will have my eternal thanks! ©
Queensland Motorists
Association Limited.
 By the mid 1920s the RACQ was the pre-eminent
motoring organisation in Queensland, however its membership of about 3000 still
only represented a small percentage of the State's motorists. Conditions were
therefore ripe for the formation of rival organisations and in late 1926 the
Queensland Motorists Association Limited was formed in Brisbane. This
organisation offered free roadside service to members within a 50 mile radius of
Brisbane through affiliated motor garages and its own
patrols. These patrols operated regularly on main roads around the
city and assisted members whose vehicles were in trouble. The association issued
car badges on loan to members for the once-only sum of 9 shillings, which was in
addition to the annual membership fee of ₤1/1/-. The badges were made from cast brass and
their appearance was inferior to the well-crafted and enamelled badges of the
RACQ. The example shown here is numbered 205 and is mounted on a
contemporary "dog bone" radiator cap. Reproductions of the QMA badge have been
made.
The QMA appears to have been under-capitalised or poorly managed as, by mid
1927, it was in financial difficulties, finally being wound up in October 1927
and leaving the RACQ as once again the major motoring organisation in
Queensland. ©
Text and photographs on this page are
copyright. ©
|
Home
