The Australian Rising Sun Badges

The Australian Rising Sun Badge

History and Origins

By Brad Manera. Senior Historian / Curator Anzac Memorial

This gilded fi rst pattern Rising Sun is a Boer War souvenir collected by Dr Frederick Ingoldby of Albany, WA. Ingoldby served as a captain (medical) with the Western Australian Bushmen’s Contingent and was severely wounded at Koster River in July 1900. The original badges were not issued gilded. I assume this fi nish was Ingoldby’s personal touch. B. Manera Collection

Ifind it intriguing that so many commonplace symbols, recognisable nationally and internationally, have origins that are obscure and contested. The Australian Army’s badge, the Rising Sun, is shrouded in such a mystery.

So where did the symbol of our Gallipoli Anzacs, our Rats of Tobruch [sic] and “the ragged bloody heroes” of Kokoda come from?

The badge was first worn by Australian soldiers in 1902, issued to contingents of the Australian Commonwealth Horse bound for the closing stages of the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). The sunburst form was diff erent to any of the badges worn by Australian colonial military units to that time.

When we try to trace the origins of the badge, we find that the paper trail runs cold in 1927. At that time much of the documentation of the Australian Department of Defence was transferred from Melbourne to Canberra. Many documents considered ‘non-essential’ were disposed of. Without a clear paper trail legend, myth and imperfect memory step in.

Origin theories

For decades the Army has been teaching its young soldiers that their badge was based on a trophy of arms comprising 13 bayonets displayed in a semicircular spray around a Tudor or Imperial crown. This spray of bayonets comprised seven yataghan sword bayonets interspersed with six Martini-Henry socket bayonets.

It is claimed that the original concept of the trophy of arms belonged to Major Joseph Gordon of the South Australian Permanent Artillery. He is attributed with naming the trophy “the Australian Rising Sun”.

The trophy was made in the 1890s. Gordon presented it to British General Edward Hutton in January 1902 on his arrival in the recently federated country.

Hutton’s immediate task was to dispatch Commonwealth units to war in South Africa. The origin story of the Rising Sun badge claims that Hutton demanded of a member of his staff , then Captain, Herbert Cox-Taylor of the 6th Infantry (Australian Rifles) Regiment that he come up with a design of the badge for the contingents.

Hutton is said to have told Cox-Taylor that he wanted something more martial than the plants and animals usually seen on Australian military badges and gestured towards the trophy of arms that he had been given by Gordon.

Another popular theory of the origin of the design contradicts that of Army lore. The challenge to the trophy of arms suggestion claims that Cox-Taylor was influenced by Colonel John Lyster who was about to take an interstate contingent to South Africa. Lyster demanded a unique badge to unify his men and, like Hutton, was opposed to the idea of the plants and animals or the Australian coat-of-arms. With only days to design and produce the badge it is suggested that Cox-Taylor looked at his own hat badge, that of the 6th, and by stripping away the plants and animals all that remained was a rising sun.

There is also a delightful story that the rising sun symbol was inspired by the logo on the Hoadley jam factory near Victoria Barracks, Melbourne, earning the Victorians bound for the Boer War the nickname Hoadley’s Horse.

The Rising Sun in Australian history

While these debates about the origins of the Rising Sun badge focus on either a trophy of arms or a modified version of an existing colonial military badge, or even a jam factory logo, they seem to ignore the historic use of the rising sun as an Australian symbol.

In the 19th century the Australian colonies, made rich by wheat crop, wool clip and gold discoveries, were frequently and collectively referred to as “the rising sun of the British Empire”. The rising sun symbol appears on coinage and in other public imagery at least as early as the 1850s.

The cap badge of the 6th Infantry c1900. This example was collected by Sydney tailor and militia NCO in 21st Regiment Oswald Moore. Moore was killed in action at Lone Pine on Gallipoli with the 1st Battalion AIF. Anzac Memorial Collection

Whatever the origins of the design may have been, the concept of a unifying symbol for the military forces of the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia was appreciated and adopted. The first pattern Rising Sun, illustrated in Fig:1, and the second pattern Rising Sun, that included a scroll reading “Commonwealth Horse”, worn in South Africa, were redesigned for the men serving under the new 1903 Defence Act. In 1904 arguably the most famous of the Rising Sun badges emerged from the manufacturer’s stamps.

Changes to the badge

The Australian Rising Sun badge has been through seven changes from the Boer War to the present. The first and second patterns were both worn by contingents of the Australian Commonwealth Horse and recycled for the Commonwealth contingent to the coronation but with the Australian Defence Act 1903 it was decided on a new badge with a more detailed scroll. The third pattern badge, introduced in 1904, had the text “Australian Commonwealth Military Forces” on the scroll beneath a Tudor or Imperial crown in the centre of a sun with rays of alternating lengths.

The words of the scroll indicate that there was no Australian army but rather a collection of permanent and part-time forces that gave Australia a defence capability. This Commonwealth or general service badge was used by units of Australia’s part-time militia in the first decade of the 20th century but was

The Anti-Transportation League campaigned to prevent the reintroduction of transportation of British convicts to NSW and Tasmania. Remove the backward facing kangaroo and emu framing the central shield on the League’s 1853 medallion and the remaining symbol is a rising sun. B Manera Collection

The oxidised brass or bronze version of the third pattern Rising Sun is the most common. Introduced in 1904 it was used as a general service badge for militia units that did not have a distinctive regimental badge. During the world wars it became the badge for the Australian Imperial Force and eventually for the militia on active service. B. Manera collection.

The gilt, enamel and silver version of the third pattern Rising Sun was introduced for the Staff and Instructional Corps. London medal makers RJ Gaunt & Son Ltd were a major supplier of these badges. B. Manera collection.

Both fourth and fi ft h patterns of the Rising Sun badge. The only diff erence between the two is the change from the Tudor or ‘King’s’ Crown to the St Edward’s or ‘Queen’s’ Crown. B Manera collection. The cloth patches on this jacket worn by Corporal Dave Land, a helicopter gunner with C Squadron, 5th Aviation Regiment ‘Brahmans’, in Afghanistan in 2008, include the seventh pattern Rising Sun embroidered on his Disruptive Pattern Desert Uniform. B Manera Collection.

made famous by members of the rapidly recruited and raised Australian Imperial Force (AIF), the men who became legend during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 and earned a place among the world’s most gallant soldiers on the Western Front and in Sinai and Palestine between 1916 and 1918.

The badge did not change through the 1920s and 30s and was reissued to a second AIF during the Second World War. Again, it was seen in the Middle East and throughout the Southwest Pacific.

When the AIF and the militia fought side by side for the first time, on the Kokoda Trail, both wore the third pattern Rising Sun.

As the 1940s drew to a close Australia created a regular army. The infantry component was titled the Royal Australian Regiment. The militia was renamed Citizens Military Forces. The Rising Sun was modified to reflect the changes. The scroll was simplified to read “Australian Military Forces” and their badge was issued in gilt metal.

Although the fourth pattern was approved in 1949 the third continued to be issued through the Korean War (1950–53).

With the coronation of the new queen in 1953 the badge was changed, creating a fifth pattern. The fifth pattern was approved in 1954 but was not produced until 1966.

In 1969 the Australian Military Board abbreviated the scroll. It read simply “Australia”. The crown, in the heart of the sun, suff ered by being reduced in size and embossed on top of a Commonwealth star. This sixth pattern Rising Sun was approved by Queen Elizabeth II in 1972. It remained in use to 1991 and coincided with complications to the embellishment of the slouch hat including a colour patch and a regimental or corps badge added to the puggaree.

This complicated design was simplified by a return to the monarch’s crown in the orbit of the sun and a more self-explanatory scroll with the text “The Australian Army”. Approved in 1991, the seventh pattern Rising Sun has been in use since 1994.

Use of the badge

As the tragedy of the Great War (1914–18) found its way into every home in Australia the Rising Sun became a symbol for loved ones and for loss. The badge found its way into keepsakes, embroidered postcards and cushion covers, cast tokens - reminders of loved ones and, most poignantly, the ribbons worn by widows and bereaved mothers.

After the war the Rising Sun was a logical choice for the headstones of the fallen in the newly created cemeteries of the Imperial War Graves Commission and on Australian war memorials at home and overseas.

The design chosen for the headstones employed a unique scroll with an unusual spelling variation, the plural “Australian Imperial Forces [sic]”.

On war memorials the symbol has been inlaid or embossed on stone, cast in bronze or etched into glass.

Variations in manufacture

A commonly asked question is “can the third pattern Rising Sun be dated to the first or the second world wars?” As the badge was in production almost continuously from 1904 to around 1950 it is almost impossible to tell exactly when a particular badge was made. The Melbourne badge makers Stokes & Sons and KG Luke were most prolific. They usually embossed their name on the reverse of the badge. Other manufacturers followed suit, but many left the reverse blank.

The Rising Sun used on sweetheart badges made from materials ranging from mother-of-pearl to sterling silver, a matchbox cover commissioned by the men of the 4th Battalion AIF and the bereaved mothers and widow’s ribbon. Curiously the ribbon predicts a scroll that would not be adopted for over 30 years. B. Manera collection.

The Rising Sun provides an unmistakable background for the design on this commemorative medallion minted for the opening of the Australian national memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France in 1938. B. Manera collection. The Rising Sun in the fl oor, wall and windows of the Hall of Memory at the 1934 Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park, Sydney.

The reverse of this Rising Sun is clearly embossed with the Western Australian maker Sheridan’s of Perth. B. Manera collection. Rising Sun hat badges, fi tted with slides, made by Tip Taft s of Birmingham beside a collar badge, also made by Tip Taft , fi tted with lugs. B. Manera collection.

The only third pattern Rising Sun’s that can be identified as having been made during the Great War are those made by British contractors at a time when Australian suppliers could not keep up with the demands of the increased size of the AIF. As British regimental badges of the period were attached to hats using a flat bar or ‘slide’ rather than the lugs fitted by Australian badge makers, Rising Suns fitted with slides must date to between 1916 and 1918.

Today Australian Army badges are made from an alloy called Staybrite. Polishing, the bane of any old soldier’s existence, has disappeared, but the symbol of the rising sun continues in use by the Australian Army and on memorials of all shapes and sizes.

The origin of the Rising Sun badge may be obscure, but we continue to imbue it with the values of courage, endurance and sacrifice demonstrated by those who have worn a uniform in defence of uniform m in . Australia and of their mates.

The Australian Badge. Brad Manera Senior Historian| Curator Anzac Memorial t. (02) 8262 2901 Locked Bag A4010 Sydney NSW 1235 e. brad.manera@anzacmemorial.nsw.gov.au w. www.anzacmemorial.nsw.gov.au

Military Badges of N.S.W.