Wearing Medals & Awards
How to Wear
Most Australian awards are pinned above the left breast. If the main insignia is in the form of a neck badge it is worn around the neck accordingly.
Multiple Awards
When a person holds more than one award, the main insignia are mounted on a medal bar in the order set out in the Australian Order of Wearing.
Awards Made to Next-of-kin
A custom has evolved for people to wear the awards of deceased family members when marching in their place at commemorative events such as ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day.
People are to wear their forebears medals on the right breast, which indicates the awards are not their own.
Unofficial Medals
Ex-service organisations sometimes commission their own unofficial medals to mark participation in particular military campaigns, periods of service or types of service that have not been recognised through the Australian honours system.
Awards made by foreign governments which have not been approved by the Governor-General for acceptance and wear are also "unofficial".
There is no impediment to wearing such medals in appropriate private settings, such as a meeting of the relevant ex-service association, or a reception hosted by the relevant foreign government. Unofficial medals should not be worn at public ceremonial and commemorative events, but if they are worn as the occasion demands, then they are worn on the right breast.
Uniformed Services
Members of a uniformed service should wear their insignia on their uniform in accordance with the dress regulations of the particular service.
When to Wear
The different insignia pieces are worn according to the type of event:
Day Functions
The full-size insignia is generally worn at day functions where decorations have been prescribed, for example ANZAC Day ceremonies. On such occasions, male recipients of more than one medal would wear their decorations, full-size, suspended from a medal bar.
​
Female recipients with more than one award may prefer to mount the miniatures on a bar and to wear on such occasions only one full-sized piece of insignia on its bow immediately below their miniatures. The full-size piece would normally be that of the highest award.
Evening Functions
At events such as evening receptions and dinners where decorations have been prescribed, the miniature insignia is generally worn. The main exception to this is neck badges, which are worn in full-size.
Everyday Wear
A lapel badge or brooch may be worn on civilian clothes at any time. Only one badge or brooch should be worn at a given time and not when other insignia pieces are worn.
Order of Wearing
There is an established order of precedence for the wearing of Australian decorations. You can download a copy of the Order of Wearing Australian Honours and Awards document on the It's An Honour website.
Post-nominal Entitlements
Many awards carry an entitlement for recipients to use indicative letters after their name - for example, 'OAM' for the Medal of the Order of Australia.
If a recipient is entitled to post-nominal's for more than one award, the sequence of letters is indicate by the Order of Wearing Australian Honours and Awards.
Post-nominal's may be used from the date on which the award is gazetted.
​
Source: It's An Honour
​
