MEDALS, SUFFRAGETTES AND SWIMMERS

摘要

When 'neighbour', an aboriginal man whose real name was Mallyalega, went on trial for murder in Darwin in 1915, he had the help of a most unusual character witness. The witness did not say a word and did not need to. It was the Albert Medal awarded to Neighbour by King George V. Neighbour's team, including the Chief Protector of Aboriginals, saw to it that Neighbour wore the impressive medal in court. Neighbour was duly acquitted. Did the wearing of the prestigious medal, now part of the National Library of Australia's medal collection, play a part in the trial's result? Perhaps it did because it was a distinguished decoration no ordinary man could win and wear. Queen Victoria had introduced it in 1866 as a kind of civilian equivalent of the Victoria Cross for extreme courage shown in the saving of life.