POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Collection of banknotes, tokens and coins

Object No. 2008/190/1

Coins, banknotes and medals provide important insights into the issuing government's values and how it wishes to be perceived. Nationalistic in character, they are frequently admired for their artistic and technological merit. Indeed, the critical importance of security has meant that their production methods are generally cutting edge. While some coins, banknotes and medals are valued for their rarity, most are commonplace. They are a tangible reminder of changes in nation states, deposed and long-dead rulers, disputes over borders, political events and wars and provide a direct link with up to 2,500 years of world history. Over a period of thirty years (1976-2006) the Museum received from Mr William (Bill) Dudley Bush a steady stream of rare and valuable coins and banknotes that eventually totalled thousands in number. Even prior to this Bill Bush had already donated, in the mid 1960s, a table whose top was filled with Australian 1937 and 38 Crown coins. That this person was a citizen of the United States, living in Vancouver, Washington State, made this altruistic activity all the more remarkable. Arriving mainly by mail, the large padded envelopes covered with myriad stamps, eagle-headed airmail stickers, and a distinctive scrawl, opened to reveal a vast array of material spanning the globe, and dating from antiquity through to the present. Bill Bush was born in Skiatook, Oklahoma in 1925 and was what could only be called a colourful character. Descended from a Cherokee father who was raised on a Reservation, Bill married a number of times. His great love, Peg, who predeceased him in 1987, ensured he was the beneficiary of her very prudent financial choices. Characteristically, at the same time he was receiving large sums in dividends, Bill Bush's strong work ethic saw him spend long hours working as a night watchman. Bill Bush was a great communicator and his frequent letters are testimony to how seriously he considered his relationship with the Powerhouse Museum. Indeed, so numerous were Bill's letters that he streamlined the process through commissioning rubber stamps with the Museum's address; each individually named for the curator and director! These incredibly personal missives sent in fallow periods between (and never in) donation envelopes, allowed insights into the changing seasons and vagaries of Bill's life - including descriptions of working during cold Portland winter nights huddled incongruously in his glamorous Cadillac Eldorado coupé. To endure this, while at the same time giving away treasures, is surely the mark of an ultimately philanthropic character. As he said in his own words, 'My purpose has been to give all my life stuff to a museum for educational purposes for children to hopefully learn some history . . . and not to put a value on any of my properties (Office file F95/372/-04 letter dated 14/11/1993).' For his extreme generosity Mr Bush was fittingly made an Honorary Associate of the Museum in the field of numismatics - an honour of which he was very proud. In 2003 he was deservedly awarded the Museum's highest honour as Life Fellow and he maintained a correspondence with the Museum until his death in November 2006. Paul Donnelly Curator, design, history and society