Museum treasure

At the National Museum of Australia

Velvet kangaroo toy

THIS TOY KANGAROO, made of brown velvet and with moveable legs, dates to between 1914 and 1918. It has pinned to it a collection of World War I fundraising badges made of materials such as brass, enamel and glass.

“Funds went to the repatriation and rehabilitation of soldiers, the erection of war memorials, and to children and families affected by the war in France and Belgium,” according to the

National Museum of Australia (NMA). “At school, children learned about Empire, citizenship, national pride and duty. The war reinforced their lessons and inspired them to contribute.”

The kangaroo has long been a patriotic symbol, and one used widely in wartime. During WWI kangaroo toys were popular and a number of live kangaroos were even smuggled to Europe and Asia as mascots, including one named Skippy that lived at the British Empire’s Mena Camp training ground in the shadow of the pyramids.

During WWII the Australian Air Force painted the boxing kangaroo – first seen in a cartoon in 1891 – onto the side of fighter planes in Singapore and Malaya, which helped to distinguish them from British aircraft.The boxing kangaroo itself was inspired by travelling sideshows in which both men and kangaroos ‘fought’ wearing boxing gloves.

This toy – the precise provenance of which is unknown – is part of the NMA’s Terence Lane Collection, which includes more than 150 kangaroorelated objects from Australia and overseas that span the past two centuries.The collection has been amassed with the idea of documenting different incarnations of the kangaroo.Today this marsupial adorns everything from various Australian sporting kits to Qantas aircraft.