The trophy cabinet
Trophies are symbolic objects, intended for display as evidence of achievement, especially of victory in a contest of some kind. Many of the trophies in the collection of the Justice & Police Museum of are rewards for sporting prowess: cups presented to members of the police force for winning athletics events, for cycling, rowing, tennis and wrestling. The Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection has a cup presented to a woman named Dora Walford for taking second prize in the Ladies Bending Race at a Sydney Polo Club Gymkhana in the 1920s. Rouse Hill House also has trophies related to horses, including an embroidered silk purse won by a horse named Hercules at the Hawkesbury Races in 1838. The earliest trophy in the collection is a fine silver gilt cup presented by the Duke of Northumberland in 1815 to former military officer George Johnston, the man who arrested Governor William Bligh in 1808.
