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This series consists of one black folder with a gold trim border containing original commissions, certificates, memberships and honorary degrees conferred upon Stanley Melbourne Bruce throughout his career. Some documents have been bound into the folder while others are loose.

The folder contains official documents concerning Bruce’s early activities in Britain such as admission to the London Bar (1906) and military service in the British Army during World War One. Included is a certificate acknowledging honorary mention in a despatch signed by the Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill (1919). Also contained are various commissions appointing Bruce representative of the Commonwealth of Australia at meetings of the League of Nations (1921, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936 and 1938). Commissions relating to appointments as member of the Federal Executive Council (1921), Federal Treasurer (1921), administrator of the Prime Minister’s Department (1923), member of the Privy Council (1923), commissioner for the Australian Section, British Empire Exhibition, London (1924) and Federal Minister for Health (1927) are also included. In addition there are commissions concerning the position of High Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Australia in the United Kingdom (1932, 1933, 1938, 1943, 1944) and commissions concerning other diplomatic responsibilities in relation to the Netherlands (1942, 1946), China (1937), and the London Naval Conference (1935, 1936).

Bruce was presented with a number of honorary degrees and included in the folder are Honorary Doctors of Laws from the University of Sydney (1926), Oxford (1927), University of Toronto (1927) and University of Melbourne (1927). Also included are several memberships and honorary memberships including of Lincoln’s Inn, London (1927), the Order of the Companions of Honour (1927), the Old Melburnians Lodge, Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Victoria (1926), and the Royal Geographic Society of Australia, Queensland Branch (1929).

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