Medal made for Dominion Day

This weekend we are enjoying an unusual anniversary weekend, but in South Canterbury Museum’s storage is a commemorative medal that relates to the origins of our normal anniversary day.

The medal is one presented to school children to mark the day New Zealand was made a dominion on September 26, 1907.

Obviously this year we find ourselves unusually having a holiday aligned with Canterbury’s Anniversary Day, which relates to the arrival of the first four ships at the settlement. However, South Canterbury’s Anniversary Day originated from the celebrations that accompanied Dominion Day.

On Dominion Day, New Zealand moved from being a colony to a dominion, which was a cause for celebration in Timaru in 1907. There was an official function at the borough council in the morning and then in the afternoon a parade, including bands and military units, made its way to Caroline Bay.

Mayor James Craigie spoke to the gathered crowd and talked about the importance of the nation’s new status as a dominion.

In fact, the change of name was little more than that; it did not signify practical political or legal changes. It was more of a symbolic move that was aimed at elevating New Zealand above ‘‘lesser colonies’’ and to reinforce our separateness from neighbouring Australia.

But it was important enough for the production of a small medal for school children, one of which is held at South Canterbury Museum.