Suffering Nations Button Day fundraising badge: Serbia, Syria, Armenia

Small circular pressed tinplate badge with a celluloid face and a pin attachment to the reverse. The badge features a coloured illustration of a Middle Eastern scene, with date palms, a white town with minarets and three Arabs on camel against yellow sand and a blue sky. The words 'Servia [Serbia] Syria Armenia' are printed in red across the sand. The word 'Copyright' appears on one lower edge but features no maker's details.

Throughout the First World War there was a practice of nominating special 'days' to raise funds for various war related causes. This badge was sold as part of the Suffering Nations Button Day fundraising appeal held on 7 December 1917 in support of the displaced people of Serbia, Syria and Armenia.

Coordinated through the Commonwealth Button Fund, the appeal was supported by churches, state and federal governments with funds being directed to survivors and victims of the Armenian massacres in the Ottoman Empire (including northern Syria) dating from 1915 (until well into the mid-1920s), and the plight of the Serbian people in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars.

A series of four badges were issued on Suffering Nations Day - two circular badges of differing sizes made of tin, paper and celluloid, and two brooch-style badges made of brass or sterling silver and enamel. Mrs Frances Woolcott, Honorary Organiser of the Melbourne branch of the Commonwealth Button Fund, managed the design of this badge. Over 7,300 pounds were collected in Australia during this appeal and similar fundraisers were held in America and Great Britain.