General Wearing of Medals : War medals are not freely available for wear by all. Medals are only to be worn by those to whom the medal has been conferred. The only exception to this ruling occurs on Remembrance Day and Anzac Day. On these two occasions, descendants may wear the medals of deceased recipients but only on the right breast.
NEW LINK TO  DESIGN OF ADF MEDAL

War Medals are generally dressed to the left, horizontally pinned and suspended from a non-visible single bar or stitched to the garment if preferred. If worn on a jacket or coat, the garment should be buttoned. Ribbon lengths vary but they should not exceed 2.5 cm in length (1"). An extension of the ribbon is permissible to accommodate multiple clasps. The top clasp should be approximately 2.5cm (1") below the top of the ribbon. If more than two medals are worn, the base line should be horizontally aligned.

Medals are worn according to the Campaign period [left of centre, across to the left shoulder] with the first conferred being closest to the left of centre.

In instances such as the granting of both the Australian Service Medal 1945-1975, and the current ASM, the latter would fall second as the first recognises prior service.

Miniature medals should only be worn after 6pm at formal dress functions.


Wearing of Commemorative Medals (by private individuals) : The following is an extract from 'Sabretache', The Journal of the Military Historical Society of Australia, Vol X1X, April 1978, No 2. (page 129):

From the number of inquires, there is obviously misunderstanding or lack of knowledge presently causing confusion, about what AWARDS, private individuals may wear. In a nutshell, an individual, (in other than Uniform) may wear any award, Foreign, private (1E Club or Association) etc, that He or She has been awarded; there is no law on what may be worn, except of course for falsely wearing awards or medals, although there is a suggested order of procedure of wearing awards. A private citizen is not even bound by these rules of precedence and could wear his VC. at the end of his Service medals, without breaking the law. The Uniform automatically relate to the wearing of any awards to these regulations covering the wearing of a uniform.


Commemorative Medals : Tobruk Service Medal - Dunkirk Veterans Medal - Somme Commemorative medal - Belgium Medal - B.C.O.F. Medal - Bomber Command Medal - Hazardous Service medal [Atomic Veterans Association] - HMAS "Voyager" Survivors Medal - HMAS "Voyager" Rescuers Medal - 40th Anniversary, end of Korean War Medal - Front Line Infantry Service Medal - Gallipoli Star Anniversary Medal - National Serviceman Medal - Z Forces medal for Commando, Jaywick, Rimau - Philippines Service Medal - Malta Siege Medal - Arctic Convoy Medal - Russian Army 40th Anniversary Medal - Netherlands Commemorative Cross - Foreign Service Commemorative Medal


Australian Order of Precedence of Honours and Awards : Governor-General declares change to existing order of precedence [Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No S17 15/01/93] for Australian Service Medal [ASM] 1945-1975 and Civilian Service Medal [CSM] 1939-1945.

Medal Application Details

An application form for new (or replacement medals) is available in Adobe PDF Format at the Australian Defence Force site . To access this form and the statutory declaration required in relation to lost medals,                please

Click Here

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Medal Queries : please post your questions at the Medal & Awards Discussion Board located at the Forum

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The information contained in the medal descriptions has been gathered from a variety of sources both across the web,
from print, and from oral submissions. It is updated as new information comes to hand.

If you are seeking an off-line source of medal information, ASAC Australia highly recommends the following book:
Williams R. D. 1981 1983 1990 Medals To Australia. Pocket Book Publications, Dubbo, Australia

All medal and ribbon images displayed on the ASAC Australia website have been digitally rendered.

Reproduction without prior written consent is prohibited.

For further information and permission details please contact the : Email: info@asacaustralia.com