MEDAL PRESENTED TO C. De BOOS, JP, FROM CHINESE MINERS IN THE DISTRICT OF BRAIDWOOD, 1881, GOLD, (D) 5 CM. STATE LIBRARY OF NSW, PRESENTED 1928 – TAASA Review September 2019
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This article was originally found in the September 2019 edition of TAASA Review (Volume 28, Issue 3, Page 4).
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An inscribed medal held in the collection of the State Library of NSW (Call Number SAFE/R 257) is a rare and positive legacy of Chinese workers on the goldfields, significant for having a Chinese inscription on one side, English on the other.
The English reads: Presented/as a mark of esteem/to/C.
De Boos, J.P./Gold Fields Warden/ from Chinese Miners/in the district of/Braidwood./1881.', while the three columns of Chinese on the other side of the medal read from right to left (translation by Dr Tana Li, Australian National University, 2014, in State Library records):Qing guan min le (Since you are) such a Qing guan (honest and upright official) people are happy/ Zai Buliehuo (In Braidwood)/Tangren jingsong (Presented to you by the Chinese with high respect). State Library documents record that Chinese miners in the district of Braidwood subscribed a piece of gold each to have the medal designed and presented, and that the recipient Charles De Boos, 1818-1900, appointed a police magistrate and mining warden in the Braidwood district in 1874, was most proud of receiving this medal...