South African State President’s Decoration for Meritorious Service

This gold medal for Meritorious Service (DMS) - No.86 was conferred to the South african artist, Bettie Cilliers Barnard (1914-2010) on 24 March 1983. The design of the medal is a five-armed gold Maltese cross, displaying a golden protea flower on a blue roundel in the centre of a 5-pointed diamond-studded star, superimposed on a multi-rayed silver and a gold lion with sword plaque on the back. The DMS is engraved in Afrikaans, "Bettie Cilliers-Barnard, 24 Maart 1983". It is worn on a neck ribbon. It has been proposed, that this has been the only woman in South African history to have been presented with this honour. The Decoration for Meritorious Service (DMS) was conferred to South African recipients from 1970 until 1986 when it was las awarded. Appointments were made by the State President of South Africa. This honour was usually conferred for political services and there were only 109 recipients at the time. The conferral of this honour entitles the holder to the use of 'DMS' in English after their names or 'DVD' in Afrikaans after their name. It was superseded by the Order for Meritorious Service in 1986. Since 1 June 1994, this honour is classified as a Commonwealth honour. Short Biography: Bettie Cilliers-Barnard was born Elizabeth Petronella (Bettie) Barnard on 18 November 1914 in the town of Rustenburg, South Africa. She completed her BA-degree at the University of Pretoria in 1937. In 1938, she began her career as an art teacher at the Innesdale Intermediary School. From 1939, she lectured in art at the Normal College in Pretoria for three years. On 19 December 1942, she married a teacher, Mr. Carl Hanke (Bags) Cilliers and then became Bettie Cilliers-Barnard. Shortly afterwards her husband was appointed as an Extramural Officer at the University of Pretoria. From this time forward, a very close relationship developed between the Cilliers family and the University of Pretoria. In 1946, Cilliers-Barnard held her first solo-exhibition at the Old Extramural Building at the University of Pretoria in Vermeulen Street, Pretoria. In 1948, she travelled to Belgium and France to study further at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten and Hogere Instituten in Antwerp under Professor Julian Creytens and at the Atelier André L’Hôte in Paris. In 1956, she went for a second study tour to France and studied art and lithography at the Atelier 17 of Stanley William Hayter and the Atelier Jean-Paul Pons in Paris. In her long career as an artist, which stretched over more than seven decades, she participated in more than 250 group exhibitions in South Africa and internationally. Cilliers-Barnard received three honorary doctorates namely from the Potchefstroom University (1990), from the Rand Afrikaans University (1999) and from the University of Pretoria (2001). In 2010, Cilliers-Barnard passed away shortly after her 75th solo exhibition held at the University of Pretoria.The Cilliers Barnard DMS medal forms part of her donated collection to the University of Pretoria and forms now part of the museum numismatic collection of the University of Pretoria Museums.