The Victoria Cross
22 January 2009 by Nick Fletcher. Collection, News, Hancocks, VC, Victoria Cross. Comments (7)
Victoria Cross, the highest award for bravery in time of war RELAWM16499.001The Victoria Cross for Australia replaces the Victoria Cross in the Australian Honours and Awards system. It was instituted in 1991, and the first award was made on 16 February 2009, to Trooper Mark Donaldson, Special Air Service Regiment, for gallantry in Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan, on 2 September 2008. The reason for the change to the historic medal was to allow Australians to remain eligible for what is widely considered to be the world’s most prestigious gallantry award. Since the VC, a British imperial medal, was not compatible with the new Australian system of honours and awards, Queen Elizabeth II agreed to a new award; ‘The Victoria Cross for Australia’. The medal itself is completely unchanged, and is in fact a Victoria Cross in everything but name. It is still manufactured by Hancocks, and each award is individually approved by Her Majesty the Queen. Under a similar system, the Victoria Cross of Canada was created in 1993 and the Victoria Cross for New Zealand in 1999. The only other example of these Commonwealth awards so far was made to Corporal Willie Apiata, of the New Zealand SAS, in July 2007. This award was also for gallantry in Afghanistan, in 2004.
It should be noted that the recent awards of the Victoria Cross to Australia and the Victoria Cross to New Zealand are NOT considered by the British Government to be awards of the Victoria Cross. They are awards unique to the countries concerned. Australians, however, will consider Trooper Donaldson’s award to be the latest in a long line which stretches back to Captain (later Sir) Neville Howse in South Africa in 1900. This means that 97 Australians have now been awarded the Victoria Cross.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Nick,
I don’t think Johnson Beharry is the most recent recipient of the (imperial) Victoria Cross. Corporal Bryan James Budd of the Parachute Regiment received a posthumous VC in 2006.
January 30th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Sorry Ian, you are quite right. I had overlooked Bryan Budd, even though I read up on the incident at the time! I should have said “the most recent surviving recipient is Private Johnson Beharry” and then discussed the posthumous award. Budd’s courageous actions during two separate engagements in Afghanistan, the second of which, on 20 August 2006, led to his death in action, made him the most recent recipient of the (Imperial) Victoria Cross.
My apologies again for this careless error.
March 24th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I am interested in the new Australian Gallantry award…The Star of Gallantry. I have found that it appears only to have been awarded twice. One to a Commando SGT who commanded a Quick reaction force in Afghanistan during a battle with the Taliban and the other as a retrospective award to Harry Smith OC D Company 6 RAR at the Battle of Long Tan.
It apparently is equivalent to the imperial DSO, although it no longer is an ‘officer only’ decoration.
By the way that it has, so far, only been awarded to the Commander in each situation, I suspect that it may tend to be awarded in cases of ‘Gallantry in Command’, rather than just for individual acts of Gallantry.
The information about the SG on ‘It’s an Honour’ does not confirm this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if an element of leadership in conjunction with Gallantry is considered by Honours and Awards when they bestow this decoration.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:34 am
I agree with Maurice. There isn’t a lot of info on the Star of Gallantry. It is the equivalent of both the DSO and DCM. The DCO was awarded for both heroism and distinguished command.
I assume that although the SG may be awarded for individual Conspicuous Gallantry which doesn’t quite warrant the award of the VC, it may also be awarded for ‘Gallant command in action’.
Harry Smith OC of D Coy, 6 RAR was awarded the medal because it was equivalent to the old DSO. This is recognising his Heroic Command in that battle, rather than any act or acts of Gallantry he did that set him above the others that were there on that day.
I guess he wears the medal on behalf of all his men that went unrecognised. That has been the case with a lot of the VC’s awarded to Officers over the years.
With the recent award of the VC for Australia to TPR Donaldson VC, I would be interested to know the criteria which made their decision to give him the VC rather than the SG. From what I have read about that battle there were several other SAS soldiers involved. Some of them must have been fighting just as hard as TPR Donaldson VC. Will one of them get an SG? Was there an officer or Commander there leading them? Would he get the SG for his ‘Gallant Command’ in that incident?
The VC is such a famous medal, but the general public don’t know or recognised the other Gallantry medals. It would be good if they were publicised or displayed especially leading up to ANZAC day so that people would know what they are and what they signify.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Trooper Mark Gregor Donaldson, in my opinion, CAN NOT be considerded Australia’s ninety seventh Victoria Cross winner as it is NOT a Victoria Cross but a completely different decoration namely the Victoria Cross for Australia. Australia Should be proud of its own decorations rather that pretend they are actually British decorations.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
The Victoria Cross For Australia is indeed an Australian award. Mark Donaldson VC has the first of those to be awarded. However, the Australian award is given based on exactly the same criteria as the original imperial award. Indeed, it is actually the same medal and was made by Hancock’s of London just like all the original crosses were and still are.
Perhaps when the Victoria Cross of Australia was instituted, they should have stated that the post nominals were to be VCA rather than just VC.
Nevertheless, we can’t escape the fact that the Victoria Cross for Australia stands as Australia’s highest award for gallantry in action and we can feel just as proud of Mark Donaldson as any of our previous Imperial VC recipients.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
British criteria for the V.C.may have been relaxed since Aug-1916, but I could not find if this is so. From our Australian War Memorial publication, “They Dared Mightily”, page 2.
Directions issued by the British High Command in France, August 1916. Consequent orders by the 1st. and 2nd.Australians Divisions laid it down that in future the V.C. would be (given) awarded, only for acts of conspicuous gallantry which were “Materially conductive to the gaining of a Victory “,Cases of gallantry in saving life, of however fine a nature, would not be considered.
If this criteria still stands a lot of V.C.have definitely been upgraded,or the criteria downgraded.