On 29 February 1960, during a visit to Tokyo, a party of Japanese Boy Scouts visited Prime Minister Walter Nash. They presented him with the Order of the Golden Pheasant, the highest Japanese Scout Award and one which has ever been given only a handful of times. US President Gerald Ford was also a recipient of this award in 1974.
This object comes from the ‘Nash Collection’ of records held at Archives NZ. Nash was a key member of New Zealand's Labour Party from 1918 until his death in 1968. He served in many important roles ranging from national secretary of the Labour Party (1918-1932) to Minister of Finance (1935-1949) in the first Labour government, and was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 12 December 1957 to 12 December 1960. The Nash Collection is comprised of several thousand “bundles” of papers, photos and other items reflecting Nash’s propensity to collect and keep all manner of items.