WWI medals: 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal : Able Seaman Leslie Brown Royal Australian Navy
Date1914-1918
Object number00050461
NameMedal
MediumBronze, fabric
DimensionsOverall: 116 x 35 mm
ClassificationsCoins and medals
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionWorld War I trio of medals mounted together to Able Seaman Leslie Brown for service in the Royal Australian Navy. Brown served in HMAS ENCOUNTER and HMAS PARRAMATTA in operations against German New Guinea. The trio consists of:
- 1914-1915 Star medal authorised in 1918 and was awarded for service in specified theatres of war between 5 August 1914 and 31 December 1915. A recipient of the 1914 Star could not also be awarded the 1914–15 Star.
- The Victory medal. The medal is bronze with a winged figure of Victory on the obverse. The reverse has the words ‘THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION', all surrounded by a laurel wreath. The Victory medal was authorised in 1919 to commemorate the victory of the Allied Forces over the Central Powers. Each of the Allied nations issued a Victory Medal to their own nationals with all of these having the figure of Victory on the obverse as a common feature. Australians were awarded the medal issued by Great Britain.
- The British War Medal 1914-20. The medal is cupro-nickel with the effigy of George V on the obverse. The reverse has an image of St George on horseback trampling underfoot the eagle shield of the Central Powers, and a skull and cross-bones, the emblems of death. Above this is the risen sun of victory. The years 1914 and 1918 are contained on the outside edge medal. The British War Medal 1914-20 was instituted by King George V in 1919 to mark the end of World War I and record the service given. The qualification period was later extended to cover post-war mine clearance and service in Russia during 1919 and 1920.HistoryFollowing the outbreak of World War I, Australian troops captured German New Guinea and the nearby islands in 1914, after a short resistance led by Captain Carl von Klewitz and Lt Robert von Blumenthal, while Japan occupied most of the remaining German possessions in the Pacific. The only significant battle occurred on 11 September 1914 when the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force attacked the low-power wireless station at Bitapaka (near Rabaul) on the island of New Britain, then Neu Pommern. The Australians suffered six dead and four wounded — the first Australian military casualties of the War. The German forces fared much worse, with one German officer and 30 native police killed and one German officer and ten native police wounded. On 21 September all German forces in the colony surrendered.
