A Victoria Cross for Australia

On 15 January 1991, Queen Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Monarch of Australia, signed letters patent allowing Australia to institute its own Victoria Cross. Until then, 96 Australians had been awarded the ‘Imperial’ Victoria Cross, with the last recipient being Keith Payne in 1969.

The development of the current Australian honours system dates back to 1975. Since then, many different awards have been created to honour Australians for service, bravery and gallantry. These awards have superseded the British awards that Australians were previously eligible for. In 1991, Australia became the first Commonwealth Realm to institute its own Victoria Cross – The Victoria Cross for Australia. Since then, both Canada and New Zealand have introduced their own national versions of the Victoria Cross.

Such is the eminence of the Victoria Cross that the various national versions of the medal are virtually identical to the original VC (only the Canadian version has a slightly altered appearance). Like the original VC, the Victoria Cross for Australia is still manufactured by the jeweler Hancocks & Co. in London.

Since its institution, four Victoria Crosses for Australia have been awarded. The Australian War Memorial houses a total of 76 Victoria Crosses, which is the largest publicly held collection in the world.

Find out more about our replica and original medal mounting service.