Queen's South Africa Medal : Trooper T J Cantwell, Victorian Mounted Rifles

Queen's South Africa Medal. The recipient's details are impressed on the edge. Obverse: The crowned and veiled head of Queen Victoria and the legend 'VICTORIA REGINA ET IMPERATRIX' around the rim. Reverse: Britannia with a flag in her left hand holding out a laurel wreath towards an advancing party of soldiers. In the background are two warships. The wreath in Britannia's hand points to the letter 'R' in the word 'AFRICA'. Around the top are the words 'SOUTH AFRICA'. The medal is fitted with a straight bar suspender and has a piece of 32 mm red ribbon with two dark blue stripes and a broad orange central stripe.

Awarded to 67 Trooper Timothy John Cantwell, 4th Imperial Contingent, Victorian Mounted Rifles for his service in South Africa during the Boer War. He later served again in South Africa with the Second Battalion Australian Commonwealth Horse (Victoria) as a private, with the service number 419. The medal is missing its campaign bars. Twenty six bars were issued with this medal including five 'State' bars and two 'date' bars for 1901 and 1902. This medal is part of a collection assembled by the late Hon. Sir Thomas Hughes, Member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales. It was presented to the Memorial in memory of his son, Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, Australian Army Medical Corps, who died of wounds in France on 11 December 1916, and of his grandson, Flying Officer Peter Roger Forrest Hughes, 12 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, who was killed on active service while flying in the Northern Territory on 3 October 1942.