Badge, Nurses Against Nuclear War, Australia, circa 1979-1986

Alternative Name(s): Button Round badge with the slogan 'Nurses Against Nuclear War', made circa 1979 - 1986. It is part of a collection of badges assembled by the donor while active in left-wing politics at the University Melbourne, circa 1979-1986. The responsibility of medical personnel in connection to nuclear activity is the issue brought to the forefront through this badge.

A potential nuclear attack or accident necessarily means severe devastation of human health. But even more than just challenging the difficulties of dealing with such a disaster after it occurred, this badge reiterates the known medical stance that prevention is better than cure. In the early 1980s doctors and nurses increasingly saw themselves as having an ethical responsibility to oppose the war, as promotion of peace is a factor in the attainment of health. The Medical Association for Prevention of War, for example, was set up in Australia in 1981 and has since been an advocate for nuclear disarmament.

Nurses Against Nuclear War, in turn, was an Australian periodical that ran 1980-1984 and it might have been the body that issued this badge. This is one of many instances of particular professional groups appropriating the anti-nuclear dialectic and displaying a united protest stance. Other examples in the Museum Victoria collection include: 'Printers for Peace', 'Government Workers against the Bomb'. Circular button - pink with white writing. Fastening pin held beneath over- lapping rim at back.