WHO AND HOW TO WEAR MEDALS

Medals are to be worn by the recipient of the medals on the left side of chest for National Awards and on the rightside of the chest for international awards. A family member can wear a relatives medals on the right side of the chest out of respect for the family member and to show the medals are not their own.

Fraudulent wearing of medals, where a person is implying that the medals are their own, is an offence under The Defence Act 1903. Known or suspected cases of fraudulent medal wearing should be reported to the AFP.

MOUNTING OPTIONS

Swing Mounted Medals

Swing mounted medals means the medal "swings" from the ribbon when attached to the brooch that is pinned onto a uniform or clothing. Most medals from the Boer War up to and including WW2 are in the swing mount style, although there is no hard and fast rule.

Court Mounted Medals

Court mount medals are tied down to a backing board and the broaching fitting is attached to this backing board. Therefore, the medals don't move about when being worn. Current serving members of the Australian Defence Force are required to have their medals court mounted.

MINIATURES AND FULL SIZED

There are two different sizes of medals being Full Size, which are roughly the size of a 50c coin, and Miniatures, which are Roughly the size of a 5c coin.

Full-size medals are normally worn on service dress or to daytime events. Miniature medals can be worn with evening dress, such as mess dress, and for black tie events.

There are exceptions to the rule where there may be neck-worn awards as well as other forms of decorations, however these types of awards are rare.

Ribbons

Each medal is suspended from a ribbon which is unique to that medal. These ribbon designs are influenced by the nature of the award. The ribbons fabric is mostly cotton but some have silk.

Order of Medals

All Australian and British Imperial awards are worn in accordance with an order of precedence from left to right. For example a Victoria Cross would sit on the far left and foreign awards to the right. If the medals are being overlapped then the medal on the far left will be on top of the medals to the right. Foreign awards, including UN and NATO medals, are mounted after Australian medals if the individual is with an Australian agency, such as the ADF, Police etc. Foreign awards are ordered by the date which they were awarded.

Ribbon Bars

Ribbon bars are a way of displaying the awards for an individual when not wearing medals. They're commonly seen on defence, police and emergency service personnel whilst in their day to day work roles.

There may be clasps, rosettes and dots on ribbon bars depending the medal and the servie done.

Army And Air Force: Ribbon bars are to comprise of no more than three awards for females or four awards for males in a single row

Navy: both Male and Females May wear either a maximum of three or four ribbons per row . Ribbon bars can also have a plastic coating on them, this is normally used by emergency service personnel.

Storing and cleaning medals

It is recommended that medals be stored in a clean and dry area such as boxes made of hoop pine plywood or acid-free cardboard. Unmounted medals should be individually wrapped in acid-free tissue paper, or undyed soft cotton or linen to prevent them from touching and possibly scratching.

Medals should be kept away from extremes of temperature, humidity and light. Damp conditions can cause the metal of medals to corrode, and the fabrics to rot. High temperatures and a very dry environment, and light damage can make fabric brittle and weak.

It is recommended that you use non-acidic cleaner or a damp cloth be used to clean most medals. A non-abrasive pencil eraser is also a good choice for cleaning up marks on medals. Medals which have a silver appearance, such as the Australian Defence Medal, can be cleaned by using a silver polishing cloth if required.