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Medal - ANZAC Star - Gallipoli Star (Australia)

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Overview

The Gallipolli Star is a military decoration proposed by the British Empire; it was never awarded but later privately struck. The medal was designed by R K Peacock. It was an eight-pointed bronze star (representing NZ and the seven territories of Australia) surrounding a silver disc. On the disc the words "Gallipoli 1914-15" surrounded the King's crown.

Historical information

The medal was originally to have been called the ANZAC Star, it was proposed by Lieutenant General Birdwood for Australian and New Zealand troops who served at Gallipoli. Despite approval by George V, protests that a medal that could not be awarded to other British and Empire troops who took part in the operation (the majority deployed) was raised by British parliamentarians and media. In 1918, after ribbons, but not medals, had been shipped to the two nations, the award was cancelled and instead eligible soldiers were awarded the 1914 – 1915 Star.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-32-99-769

Inscriptions and markings

The ribbon had a blue centre with yellow on the wearer's right and silver (white) on the left. Between the yellow and blue and between the blue and white there was a narrow stripe of red. Yellow represented the Australian wattle, white the NZ silver fern, blue the ocean and red for the Australian gum blossom and NZ rata.

Contextual Information

In 1990, Ross Smith, a former Australian Army Warrant Officer and Vietnam veteran, arranged for dies from the original design to be manufactured 1000 examples of the medal to be struck. Two hundred were presented to surviving Australian and New Zealand Gallipoli veterans to mark the 75th anniversary of the campaign. The remainder were sold to the public. A further 1000 were later struck for sale to collectors.

Australian Army Museum of Western Australia

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