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{{Use Australian English|date=June 2011}}
{{Infobox military award
| name
| image =
| caption
| presenter
| type
| eligibility = [[Australian Defence Force|Australian military personnel]]
| awarded_for
| campaign =
| status
| description = Bronze [[cross pattée]] with crown and lion superimposed, and motto: 'For Valour'
| clasps =
| holder_label
| holder
| post-nominals = VC
| established = 15 January 1991
| firstawarded = 16 January 2009
|
| total_awarded
|
|
| individual
| precedence_label = [[Australian Honours Order of Wearing|Order of Wear]]
| higher
| lower
| same
| image2 =
| caption2 =
}}
The '''Victoria Cross for Australia''' is the highest award in the [[Orders, decorations, and medals of Australia|Australian honours system]], superseding the British [[Victoria Cross]] for issue to Australians. The Victoria Cross for Australia is the "decoration for according recognition to persons who in the presence of the enemy, perform acts of the most conspicuous gallantry, or daring or pre-eminent acts of valour or self-sacrifice or display extreme devotion to duty
The Victoria Cross for Australia was created by [[letters patent]] signed by [[Elizabeth II]], [[Monarchy of Australia|Queen of Australia]], on 15 January 1991. It is listed equal first with the British Victoria Cross on the [[Australian Honours Order of Precedence|Australian Order of Wear]] with precedence in Australia over all orders, decorations and medals.<ref>[http://www.ag.gov.au/portal/govgazonline.nsf/a51e77a0661e155cca256cf4001d02d9/b89078223273891aca257364000409c3!OpenDocument The order of wearing Australian honours and awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216035351/http://www.ag.gov.au/portal/govgazonline.nsf/a51e77a0661e155cca256cf4001d02d9/b89078223273891aca257364000409c3!OpenDocument |date=16 December 2007 }}, ''Commonwealth Gazette'' No. S192, 28 September 2007, p. 1.</ref> The decoration may be awarded to members of the [[Australian Defence Force]] and to other persons determined by the [[Australian Minister for Defence]].<ref>Victoria Cross Regulations, ''Commonwealth Gazette'' No. S25, 4 February 1991, p. 2, Regulation 5.</ref> A person to whom the Victoria Cross for Australia has been awarded is entitled to the post nominals '''VC''' placed after the person's name.<ref name=CGazetteS25p2R8>Victoria Cross Regulations, ''Commonwealth Gazette'' No. S25, 4 February 1991, p. 2, Regulation 8.</ref>
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Since the end of the Second World War most but not all [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries have introduced their own honours systems, separate from the [[British honours system]]. Commonwealth countries, when replacing the British [[Victoria Cross]], [[George Cross]] and lesser decorations, created their own decorations for gallantry and bravery. The highest awards for Australia, Canada and New Zealand<ref name=nzgovdept>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/overview/gallantry.html |title=New Zealand Honours |publisher=Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=30 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207042635/http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/overview/gallantry.html <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=7 December 2006}}</ref> were named in honour of the British Victoria Cross but are unique awards of each country's honours system. Commonwealth countries have their own Order of Wear which is published in each country's gazette or other publication.
With the issuing of [[letters patent]] by the Queen of Australia on 15 January 1991, Australia became the first Commonwealth realm to institute a separate Victoria Cross award in its own honours system. Although it is a separate award, the Victoria Cross for Australia's appearance is identical to its British counterpart.<ref name=OzVcpage>{{cite web |url=https://www.pmc.gov.au/government/its-honour/victoria-cross |title=Victoria Cross |date=20 June 2016 |publisher=The Government of Australia |access-date=14 January 2019}}</ref> Canada followed suit when in 1993, Queen Elizabeth II as [[Queen of Canada]] signed letters patent creating the [[Canadian Victoria Cross]]. The Canadian version has a different inscription, as well as being cast from three groupings of metals. The legend has been changed from <small>FOR VALOUR</small> to the [[Latin]] <small>''PRO VALORE''</small>.<ref name=CTVVChist>{{cite news| url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/top-military-honour-now-cast-in-canada-report-1.231701 |title=Top military honour now cast in Canada |last=CTV.ca |first =News staff |publisher=CTV news |date=3 March 2007 |access-date=24 June 2007}}</ref> Although one Canadian VC has been cast, none have been awarded. In 1999, New Zealand created the [[Victoria Cross for New Zealand]], identical to the Australian and British Victoria Crosses,<ref name=nzgovdept/> and this has been awarded once, on 2 July 2007 to Corporal [[Willie Apiata]].<ref name=VCreceived>{{cite news |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10453961| title=Willie Apiata receives his VC |work=
== Appearance ==
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[[File:35AWM.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Australian War Memorial]] which holds 66 Victoria Crosses|alt=A view looking up a landscaped hill; steps lead to the entrance of a large cupola-topped building with three flag poles in front.]]
The Victoria Cross for Australia is the highest award in the [[Australian Honours Order of Precedence]]. As such, it takes precedence over all other [[Commonwealth Realms orders and decorations#Australia|Australian orders and decorations]], except the Imperial [[Victoria Cross]], with which it shares equal precedence. This postnominal is valid only for the recipient and is not transferred to the recipient's heirs.<ref>Ashcroft, Michael, Introduction</ref> "Tradition holds that even the most senior officer will salute a Victoria Cross recipient as a mark of the utmost respect for their act of valour."<ref name="Houston salutes"/>
The various forms of the Victoria Cross are inherently valuable, as was highlighted on 24 July 2006, when at the auctionhouse [[Bonhams]] in Sydney, the VC which had been awarded to [[First World War]] soldier Captain [[Alfred John Shout|Alfred Shout]], fetched a world-record [[hammer price]] of $1 million. Shout had been awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in 1915 for hand-to-hand combat at the [[Battle of Lone Pine|Lone Pine]] trenches in [[Gallipoli]], [[Turkey]]. The buyer, [[Kerry Stokes]], has lent it to the [[Australian War Memorial]] for display with the eight other Victoria Crosses awarded to Australians at Gallipoli.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Gallipoli-VC-medal-sets-auction-record/2006/07/24/1153593264537.html |title=Gallipoli VC medal sets auction record |work=[[The Age]]
== Recipients ==
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===Mark Donaldson===
The first Victoria Cross for Australia was awarded to [[Trooper (rank)|Trooper]] [[Mark Donaldson]] of the [[Special Air Service Regiment]] by Governor-General [[Quentin Bryce]] at [[Government House, Canberra]], on 16 January 2009.<ref name=DoD>{{cite web |url=http://www.defence.gov.au/special_events/TPR_markDonaldson.htm |title=Trooper Mark Gregor Strang Donaldson, VC |publisher=[[Department of Defence (Australia)|Department of Defence]] |date=16 January 2009 |access-date=16 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140214154326/http://www.defence.gov.au/special_events/TPR_markDonaldson.htm |archive-date=14 February 2014}}</ref><ref name=TheAustralian20090116>{{cite news|url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24920340-601,00.html |title=Australian SAS soldier Mark Donaldson awarded Victoria Cross |newspaper=[[The Australian]]
{{Quote|On 2 September 2008 Trooper Donaldson was outstanding in the manner in which he fought during a prolonged and effective enemy ambush. On numerous occasions, he deliberately drew the enemy's fire
===Ben Roberts-Smith===
[[Corporal]] [[Ben Roberts-Smith]] [[Medal for Gallantry|MG]] of the Special Air Service Regiment was awarded the second Victoria Cross for Australia on 23 January 2011.<ref name="SAS digger awarded VC">{{cite news |agency=Australian Associated Press|title=SAS digger awarded VC for taking on Taliban |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/sas-digger-awarded-vc-for-taking-on-taliban-20110123-1a0zd.html |access-date=23 January 2011 |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=23 January 2010
In 2020, it was reported that Roberts-Smith had offered his Victoria Cross as collateral for a loan from Australian businessman [[Kerry Stokes]] to help fund Roberts-Smith's then-ongoing defamation case.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McKinnell |first=Jamie |date=2023-06-01 |title=Ben Roberts-Smith tried to clear his name — it proved to be an expensive own goal |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-01/ben-roberts-smith-analysis-on-ex-soldier-personal-cost/102419864 |access-date=2023-06-01}}</ref> In 2023, Roberts-Smith was found to have committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
===Daniel Keighran===
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== Proposed late awards ==
On 3 April 2001, Senator [[Chris Schacht]], then a member of the [[Australian Senate]], gave notice that on the next day of sitting he would introduce the ''Award of Victoria Cross for Australia Bill 2001'' to award the Victoria Cross for Australia to certain persons. The next sitting day, 4 April 2001, Senator Schacht introduced the bill for three members of the Australian forces to be awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia.<ref name=Hansard0401>{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/Hansard/senate/dailys/ds040401.pdf |title=Parliamentary Debates, Senate |
The awards were to be made posthumously to [[John Simpson Kirkpatrick]] ("Simpson"), [[Albert Cleary]] and [[Teddy Sheean]] (Teddy Sheean was subsequently recommended for the award on 12 August 2020<ref name=TSAward/>) for their actions in the First and Second World Wars. Simpson's story has become an Australian legend.<ref name=Anzacs>{{cite web |url=http://www.anzacs.net/Simpson.htm |title=Australia's favourite hero |publisher=Anzacs |access-date=26 January 2008}}</ref> He was a stretcher bearer with the [[3rd Field Ambulance (Australia)|3rd Australian Field Ambulance]], [[Australian Army Medical Corps]] at [[Gallipoli]] during the First World War. He landed at [[Anzac Cove]] on 25 April 1915 and, on that first night, took a donkey and began carrying wounded from the battle line to the beach for evacuation. He continued this work for three and a half weeks, often under fire, until he was killed. However, in 1919, {{nowrap|[[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]]}} decreed that no more operational awards would be made for the recently concluded war.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Graham |title=The Donkey Vote. A VC for Simpson – The Case Against |journal=Sabretache: The Journal and Proceedings of the Military Historical Society of Australia |volume=47 |issue=4 |date=December 2006 |pages=25–37}}</ref>
In 1965, a campaign to award the Victoria Cross to Simpson resulted in his image with a donkey appearing on the obverse of the [[Anzac Commemorative Medallion]] that was announced in 1966 and first issued in 1967. Following the [[2007 Australian federal election]] the Labor party came to power and there was speculation that the 2001 bills may be reintroduced. Historians such as Anthony Staunton, writing in the ''Australian Journal of Military History'', have opined that the Victoria Cross for Australia should not be awarded retrospectively.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Bravery-award-for-war-hero.3675078.jp |title=Bravery award for war hero blocked |date=15 January 2008 |work=The Shields Gazette |last=Myles-Kelly |first=Paul |access-date=26 January 2008}}</ref> It was announced on 13 April 2011 that 13 cases of valour would be examined posthumously by the Australian government's Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal. The Tribunal first debated "the eligibility of the 13 to receive the Victoria Cross, the Victoria Cross for Australia or other forms of recognition," before moving on to discuss the individual cases.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/awards-tribunal-to-consider-13-posthumous-vcs-20110416-1dihi.html |title=Awards tribunal to consider 13 posthumous VCs |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald
== Notes ==
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