General News
8 June, 2024
Historic treasures from Empire Days
PATRIOTISM of Graeme Catto for the British Empire has been safely stored in a family treasure box for decades. It was a Loddon Herald feature story last month that prompted his daughter Barb to once more open the box where four Empire Day tokens sat...
PATRIOTISM of Graeme Catto for the British Empire has been safely stored in a family treasure box for decades.
It was a Loddon Herald feature story last month that prompted his daughter Barb to once more open the box where four Empire Day tokens sat among other memorabilia collected when George was a student at Rheola State School.
“Dad was a real collector and had great respect for the Empire and the young men from the district who went on to enlist in World War Two,” Barb said. “Reading the article about how Empire Days were celebrated in local schools each May in those years reminded me of the tokens in Dad’s treasure box.”
Barb said students at Rheola had collected money for Red Cross on Empire Day.
“Dad also received a certificate for collecting rabbit skins and raising £1,” she said.
“Any memorabilia he collected or received was always safely stored in the box that remains in our family.”
The celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday on May 24 was renamed Empire Day in 1903 after her death in 1901.
It was celebrated throughout the British Empire culminating in fireworks and bonfires in the evening.
The last celebration of Empire Day in Australia took place in 1958 when it was renamed Commonwealth Day and the date moved to March.