Highest military honour: the Victoria Cross

of awards to replace the imperial system. The two systems operated in parallel until 1994, when the imperial system was fully phased out.

The key differences between the Australian awards and those of the imperial system are that the awards are applied to all three armed services, and that the level of the award is not restricted by rank but is determined by the quality of the action or service.

Saluting Their Service

Contributor:

GRAHAME OLD

THE Victoria Cross is the highest award for acts of bravery in wartime.

It was instituted in 1856 by Queen Victoria and made retrospective to 1854 to cover the period of the Crimean War.

The VC is the highest military decoration awarded for valour in the face of the enemy. It takes precedence over all other orders, decorations and medals. It may be awarded to a person of any rank in any service and to civilians under military command.

Before the Crimean War, there was no official standardised system for recognition of gallantry within the British armed forces, and any award generally went to commissioned officers.

Queen Victoria then instructed the war office to strike a new medal that would not recognise birth or class. The medal was meant to be a simple decoration that would be highly prized and eagerly sought after by those in the military services.

The original warrant stated that the Victoria Cross would only be awarded to officers and men who had served in the presence of the enemy and had performed some act of valour or devotion.

There was no specific clause to allow posthumous awards until 1920, however one quarter of all WWI VC awards were posthumous.

The Victoria Cross was designed, according to the original warrant for the award, to be in the form of the Maltese Cross, cast in bronze from cannons captured during the Crimean War (18541856).

In the centre of the medal is a lion guardant standing upon the Royal Crown. The words “For Valour” are inscribed on a semi-circular scroll beneath the crown.

On the reverse of the cross the date of the act of bravery is inscribed, along with the name, rank, and unit of the recipient. The suspension bar is decorated with laurel leaves and bears a 'V' from which the cross hangs, suspended from a crimson ribbon.

Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857, two-thirds of all awards have been personally presented to recipients by the reigning British monarch at an investiture held at Buckingham Palace.

From the Boer War through to the Vietnam War, awards for gallantry and distinguished service were made to Australian servicemen under the British Imperial Awards System.

In 1975, the Commonwealth Government introduced an Australian system

The exception was the highest award for bravery, the Victoria Cross, which remained, but was renamed the Victoria Cross for Australia.

The VC for Australia is awarded for most conspicuous gallantry, or a daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the face of the enemy.

The Victoria Cross for Australia is normally presented by the Governor-General, with the approval of the Sovereign, on the recommendation of the Minister for Defence.

Collie servicemen have always displayed gallant conduct through all wars and many have been recognised for their actions. There has been one Victoria Cross awarded to a serviceman from Collie - Sergeant Martin O’Meara VC for “Most Conspicuous Bravery” during the WWI Battle of Pozieres, August, 1916.

Martin O’Meara was born on November 6, , near the town of Birr in the parish of Lorrha, County Tipperary, Ireland. His parents were Michael and Margaret O’Meara.

Martin sought a better life in Australia and emigrated in 1912, working his passage as a ship's stoker. He settled first in SA, but soon moved to WA for work in the south west timber industry.

Martin is known to have worked as a sleeper cutter in areas surrounding Pinjarra and Waroona before moving down to the Bowelling Block surrounding Collie. It was physically demanding and dangerous work which Martin relished. Military service records show that Martin O’Meara applied to enlist into the AIF on August 17, 1915, at Collie Municipal Council, listing his postal address as Bowelling Pool via Collie and his occupation as sleeper hewer.

His next of kin was listed as his sister, Alice O’Meara, Ireland. As with all boys who enlisted from Collie at that time his preliminary medical examination was conducted by local Doctor W.H. Ryley.

Martin, aged 29, was described as short and stocky, five feet seven inches in height with a chest measurement of 41 inches, and was declared fit for active service.

After training at Blackboy Hill, Private O’Meara was assigned to the 12th Reinforcements for WA’s own 16th Infantry Battalion. Martin O’Meara soon found himself on the Western Front in France.

The batallion, made up of some experienced soldiers from Gallipoli and the new reinforcements from Australia, underwent its baptism of fire at Pozieres.

From August 9 to August 12, the 16th Batallion mounted attacks on entrenched German positions at Mouquet Farm.

Devastating artillery fire from the Germans caused horrendous casualties amongst the 16th Batallion soldiers. An entry into the Batallion war diary stated: “So intense was the barrage that our trench as a trench had ceased to exist”.

“No man’s land”, between the Australian and German trench lines, was littered with dead and dying soldiers from both sides.

It was here that the quiet Irishman took it upon himself to enter the turmoil to bring in wounded Australian soldiers, an act that led to him being described by one of his officers as “the most fearless and gallant soldier I have ever seen”.

Private O’Meara, a scout, was also acting as a stretcher bearer over the period of the battle and he entered “No man’s Land” repeatedly to apply first aid and then bring in wounded soldiers.

He was under constant machine gun and artillery fire, conditions described by one of his officers as ‘’indescribable”. Martin O’Meara was credited as having saved the lives of over 25 wounded soldiers, although the exact number will never be known.

Even after the battalion was relieved, O’Meara was seen leaving his now safe position to re-enter “No man’s land” where he brought in a further two wounded soldiers. In between these gallant acts and still under heavy fire, he had also brought forward much needed ammunition, bombs (grenades) and food to the front.

For his actions Private Martin O’Meara was awarded the Victoria Cross for “Most Conspicuous Bravery”.

No fewer than six officers had recommended an award for his bravery. He travelled to London in July, 1917, where he was presented with his Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace by King George V.

The Victoria Cross has been awarded to 101 Australians; 96 were awarded the Victoria Cross under the imperial awards system, four Australian Army soldiers have been awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia and one RAN ordinary seaman has posthumously been awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia.

The Victoria Cross has been awarded to Australians in the following conflicts:

SIx in the Boer War 1899-1902; 64 in World War I 1914-1918 (nine at Gallipoli), two in North Russia 1919 (Russian Civil War);

20 in World War II 1939-1945;

One posthumously from World War II in 2020;

Four in Vietnam 1962-1972; Four in Afghanistan 2001-2013.

The first Australian to be awarded a Victoria Cross was Captain Sir Neville Howse, VC, during the Boer War (1900).

During the Russian civil war many Australian AIF soldiers enlisted into the British Army for service with the 45th Battalion Royal Fusiliers. The only two VCs awarded to British forces during this campaign were awarded to Australian servicemen Cpl A Sullivan and Sgt S Pearse.

Warrant officer, class two, Keith Payne, VC, was the last Australian to be awarded the Victoria Cross under the imperial awards system - Vietnam War (1969).

Almost 40 years later, Corporal (then Trooper) Mark Donaldson, VC, became the first to be awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia - Afghanistan War (2008).

In 2020, 75 years after WW II the latest Victoria Cross for Australia was posthumously awarded when the Queen gave royal assent for Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean RAN to be awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia. Sheean's medal was the first VC awarded to a Royal Australian Navy crew member. The Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial Canberra honours the 101 Australians who have been awarded the Victoria Cross. ‘Lest we Forget’