Royal Victoria Regiment Association
Representative Colonel: Her Excellency Professor the Honorable Margaret Gardner AC Govenor of Victoria.
Patron: Major General The Honourable Justice Greg Garde AO RFD (Retd)
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest award for acts of bravery in wartime. Instituted in 1856 by Queen Victoria, the award was made retrospective to 1854 to cover the period of the Crimean War.
Any serving member of the armed forces is eligible for the decoration which accords 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 is designed in the form of the Maltese Cross: in the centre of the medal is a lion guardant standing upon the Royal Crown. The words "FOR VALOUR" are inscribed below. The Victoria Cross is suspended from a crimson ribbon. On the reverse of the cross the date of the act of bravery is inscribed, along with the name, rank, and unit of the recipient.
Until it was superseded by the Victoria Cross for Australia on 15 January 1991, the British or Imperial Victoria Cross had been awarded to ninety six Australians. Six awards were made during the Second Boer War, sixty four in World War I (including nine at Gallipoli), twenty in World War 2, four in the Vietnam War, and two to Australians in the North Russia Relief Force in 1919. Twenty eight of the awards were made posthumously.
The Victoria Cross for Australia has been awarded four times since its inception, all for actions during the War in Afghanistan. The first was awarded to Trooper Mark Donaldson of the Special Air Service Regiment by the Governor-General on 16 January 2009. Corporal Ben Roberts - Smith MG of the Special Air Service Regiment received the award on 23 January 2011, Corporal Daniel Keighran of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment received the award on 1 November 2012 and in 2014 postumously, Corporal Cameron Baird, from the 2nd Commando Regiment, who was killed by small arms fire during an engagement with insurgents in the Khod Valley in southern Afghanistan on 22 June 2013.
The Royal Victoria Regiment is proud to include in its Battalion's history nine soldiers acclaimed for exceptional gallantry by the award of the Victoria Cross. Eight of these were awarded during the Great War and one in World War II, and serve as a reminder that wherever Australian Infantry has served, they have done so with bravery distinction and honour.
Second Lieutenant Frederick BIRKS VC MM 6th Infantry Battalion AIF
Within two weeks of war being declared on August 4th 1914, Fred Birks, not yet 20, enlisted in the 1st Australian Division. He was a member of the 100-plus 2nd Field Ambulance attached to the 2nd Infantry Brigade at Gallipoli. He won the Military Medal at Pozieres in June 1916.
On the 20th September 1917 Lt. Birks found himself in Ypres, Belguim, with the German's hoping to capture Boulogne and Calais. The Allies' offensive would only begin after they had removed the Germans from ridges that ran to the east of the town. (The Battle of Menin Road)
A Battalion report says that Lt. Birks first sprang into action when the 6th Battalion was held up by a German Maxim machine gun. In an incident near Glencorse Wood, bombs were thrown and hasty shots fired from up to three pill boxes. The Australians were quickly into them and the enemy surrendered.
From one of the enemy pill boxes, a machine-gun fired, and Lt. Birks and Cpl W Johnson instantly rushed in. They were met by bombs, Johnson was wounded but Lt. Birks reached the back of the pill box and the enemy defenders, seeing the rest of the battalion attacking, surrendered.
It didn't end there. The next day the 6th Battalions artillery held a stationary barrage in front of the forward lines in anticipation of a counter attack. The enemy did fight back. A shell burst in a post of D Company, killing Lieut Birks along with four others and wounded two more. The full citation reveals a third incident which was taken into consideration when Lt Birks was awarded the VC posthumously.
The citation reads "For most conspicuous bravery in attack when, accompanied by only a corporal, he rushed a strong-point which was holding up the advance. The corporal was wounded by a bomb, but Second Lieutenant Birks went on himself, killed the remainder of the enemy occupying the position, and captured a machine-gun. Shortly afterwards he organised a small party and attacked another strong point which was occupied by about 25 of the enemy of whom many were killed and an officer and 15 men captured. During the consolidation this office did magnificent work in reorganising parties of other units which had been disorganised during the operation. By his wonderful coolness and personal bravery, Second Lieutenant Birks kept his men in splendid spirits throughout. He was killed at his post by a shell while endeavouring to extricate some of his men who had been buried by a shell."
The VC was awarded on the 8th November 1917. He is buried in Perth Cemetery at Zillebeke.
Lieutenant Birks' military records can be viewed at:
Gallipoli 1915
Nine Victoria Crosses were awarded to the men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps at Gallipoli.
The three that follow were awarded at Lone Pine, the only instance during World War I where three
Victoria Crosses were awarded for a single action
Corporal Alexander Stewart BURTON VC MID 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
Alexander Burton was born on 20 January 1893 at Kyneton, Victoria and in 1911 began his period of compulsory military service. Burton enlisted in the 7th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, on 18 August 1914 and embarked for Egypt in October. On 4 April 1915 his battalion embarked for Lemnos and on the 25th took part in the landing at Anzac. Burton, who was ill with a throat infection, watched the landing from a hospital ship but a week later was in the trenches. The 7th Battalion was then fighting near 400 Plateau. On 5 May it left Anzac beach to participate in the attack on Krithia, then returned to serve at Monash Valley and Steele's Post. Burton was slightly wounded in action and in July was promoted lance corporal for having volunteered for a dangerous operation; he was later promoted to the rank of corporal.
Burton was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery in the trenches at Lone Pine on 9 August. Early that morning the Turks launched a strong counter-attack on a newly captured trench held by Burton, a personal friend Lieutenant F. H. Tubb, Corporal W. Dunstan and a few others. The Turks advanced up a sap and blew in the sandbag barricade but Burton, Tubb and Dunstan repulsed them and rebuilt it. Supported by strong bombing parties, the enemy twice more destroyed the barricade but were driven off and the barricade was rebuilt. Burton was killed by a bomb while building up the parapet. Burton's award was gazetted on 15 October and on 28 January 1916 he was mentioned in dispatches. His kind and manly nature had won him many friends; even before Lone Pine he was frequently mentioned in soldiers' letters for various daring acts. He has no known grave, but his name is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, and by an oak tree and bridge at Euroa. He was unmarried.
Corporal Burton's military records can be viewed at:
Corporal William DUNSTON VC MID 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
William Dunstan was born on 8 March 1895 at Ballarat East, Victoria and was a cadet under the compulsory training scheme gaining the cadet rank of captain. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the militia with the 70th Infantry (Ballarat Regiment) in July 1914 before deciding to enlist as a private in the Australian Imperial Force as in June 1915. A fortnight later he embarked for Egypt as an acting sergeant of the 6th Reinforcements of the 7th Battalion. From 5 August he was an acting corporal with the 7th on Gallipoli where four days later he won the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery at Lone Pine. Early on 9 August the Turks made a determined counter-attack on a newly captured trench held by Lieutenant F. H. Tubb and ten men. Two men were told to remain on the floor of the trench to catch and throw back enemy bombs or to smother their explosions with overcoats; both were soon mutilated. Tubb, with Corporal Dunstan, Corporal A. S. Burton and six others, kept firing over the parapet. Several bombs burst simultaneously in the trench killing or wounding five men. Tubb continued to fight, supported only by Dunstan and Burton until a violent explosion blew down the barricade. Tubb drove the Turks off and Dunstan and Burton were rebuilding it when a bomb burst between them, killing Burton and temporarily blinding Dunstan. He was invalided to Australia and discharged on 1 February 1916 having been twice mentioned in dispatches. He then rejoined the Citizen Forces, serving in the rank of lieutenant as area officer, Ballarat, and later as an acting brigade Major, 18th Infantry Brigade. His army career concluded when he transferred to the 6th Infantry Battalion in Melbourne in 1921, the unattached list in 1923 and the reserve officer's list in 1928.
On 10 June 1916 he was presented with the V.C. by the Governor-General on the steps of Parliament House, Melbourne. This was the occasion for an outburst of exceptional public fervour. ‘A reserved man disliking fuss', Dunstan found it a great ordeal. Dunstan died suddenly on 2 March 1957. His funeral service was attended by over 800 people including seven V.C. winners.
Corporal Dunstan's military records can be viewed here:
Lieutenant Frederick Harold Tubb VC 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
Frederick Tubb was born on 28 November 1881 at Longwood, Victoria. He was 5 ft. 5 3/4 ins. (167 cm) tall, an extrovert and a born leader. After volunteer service with the 58th Infantry (Essendon Rifles), CMF; Victorian Mounted Rifles Brigade(1900-02) and the Light Horse Brigade(1902-11), he joined the 6Oth Battalion, Australian Military Forces, and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1912.
Appointed to the Australian Imperial Force on 24th August 1914 as a second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Tubb was promoted lieutenant on 1 February 1915. He reached Gallipoli on 6th July and was gazetted captain on 8 August. On the same day he took over a vital sector of captured trench at Lone Pine, with orders to 'hold it at any cost'. Early on the 9th the Turks launched a furious attack, advancing along a sap which had been barricaded with sandbags. From the parapet, with eight men, Tubb fired at the enemy; two corporals in the trench caught enemy bombs and threw them back or smothered them with greatcoats. Although Tubb was blown from the parapet and the barricade repeatedly wrecked, each time it was rebuilt.
He inspired his men, joking and shouting encouragement. A huge explosion blew in the barricade and killed or wounded most of the defenders. Wounded in the arm and scalp, Tubb was left with Corporals A. S. Burton and W. Dunstan; he led them into action, shooting three Turks with his revolver and providing covering fire. While the barricade was rebuilt a bomb burst, killing Burton and temporarily blinding Dunstan. Tubb then obtained additional help but the Turks did not renew the attack. Evacuated that evening, Tubb was taken to England to convalesce. For his gallantry at Lone Pine he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
He was invalided to Australia and arrived home in April 1916 to a hero's welcome. Having persuaded an AIF medical board that he was fit, he rejoined his battalion in France in December and was promoted major on 17th February 1917. His company had an important role in the Menin Road attack, 3rd battle of Ypres, on 20th September. Before the battle he was troubled by his hernia yet refused to be evacuated. With dash and courage he led his company to its objective but was hit by a sniper and while being taken out on a stretcher was mortally wounded by shell-fire. Tubb was buried in the Lijessenthoek military cemetery, Belgium, and is commemorated by Tubb Hill, Longwood, and a memorial tree in the Avenue of Honour, Euroa.
To view Lieutenant Tubb's military record go to:
Lieutenant William John Symons VC 7th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
William John Symons was born at Eaglehawk, Victoria on 12 July 1889 and served in the militia (5th and 60th battalions) before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force on 17 August 1914. Posted to the 7th Battalion as colour sergeant, he embarked for Egypt on 18 October, was promoted acting regimental quartermaster sergeant on 9 April 1915 and landed with his battalion at Gallipoli on 25 April. He was commissioned second lieutenant next day and promoted lieutenant on 2 July. About 5 a.m. on 9 August the Turks made a series of determined attacks on Jacob's Trench at Lone Pine where six Australian officers were killed or severely wounded. Learning that the position had been overrun, Lieutenant-Colonel Harold 'Pompey' Elliott ordered Symons to retake the trench. 'I don't expect to see you again', he said, 'but we must not lose that post'. Symons led the charge that drove off the Turks, but the enemy continued attacking from the front and both flanks. Symons received Elliott's permission to abandon fifteen yards (14 m) of open trench and to establish a new barricade. Although the Turks set fire to the overhead woodwork, Symons extinguished the flames, kept the barricade inplace and finally forced the enemy to discontinue their attacks. Lieutenant Symons received his V.C. from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 4 December 1915. On this occasion the King, so the story goes, said to Symons: 'I am proud to decorate an Australian with this Cross. You may be interested to know the intrinsic worth of this bronze cross is only five and a half pence. I hope you will live long enough to wear it.'
Returning to Australia in March 1916, 'Curly' Symons was fêted at civic receptions at Bendigo and Brunswick. He re-embarked for the Western Front as a captain commanding a company in the 37th Battalion. Wounded in the 10th Brigade's raid on 27 February 1917, he was subsequently gassed during the battle of Messines, Belgium, on 7 June. He rejoined his unit in January 1918 and fought at Dernancourt, France, in March. After the war Symons settled with his family in England and served as a lieutenant-colonel in the home guard in 1941-44. He died of a brain tumour on 24 June 1948 in London.
Lieutenant Symons' military records can be viewed here:
Lieutenant William Donovan Joynt VC 8th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
Lieutenant William Donovan Joynt, was born on 19 March 1889 at Elsternwick. He served as a corporal in the Victorian Rifles, Militia , before enlisting in the AIF in May 1915. Commissioned on 24 December 1915, he arrived in France in May 1916 and joined the 8th Battalion in July. On 30 September he was shot in the shoulder during a raid on the German trenches at The Bluff in the Ypres sector, Belgium. He was evacuated to England, commended in divisional orders and in December promoted to lieutenant. In January 1917 he rejoined his battalion and, except for three months at an army school and on leave during the 1917-18 winter, served with the unit on the Western Front theWestern Front until August 1918, fighting in the second battle of Bullecourt and at Menin Road and Broodseinde.
Lieutenant Joynt, 8th Battalion, was awarded the Victoria Cross for “most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty during the attack on Herlville Wood” on the 23rd of August 1918, near Peronne, France. Lieutenant Joynt took charge of the company after the company commander was killed. He reorganized and led the troops under heavy machine gun fire. At a later stage of the battle he led a frontal bayonet charge on the German enemy, saving a critical situation by his leadership and sheer determination. He continued to attack the enemy in this manner until he was badly wounded by a shell.
In the Second World War, Joynt served as a lieutenant colonel, commanding training camps in Australia. He was a foundation member of the Legacy Club, Melbourne. The last surviving of Australia’s World War I VC winners, he died on 5 May 1986 at Windsor and was buried with full military honours in Brighton cemetery.
Lieutenant Joynt's military records can be viewed here:
Private Robert Matthew Beatham VC 8th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
Robert Matthew Beatham was born on 16 June 1894 at Glassonby, Cumberland, England. While still in his teens he migrated alone to Australia and was working at Geelong, Victoria, as a labourer when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 8 January 1915. Beatham embarked for Egypt in April and was returned to Australia on medical grounds in July. He re-embarked in September with reinforcements for the 8th Battalion and six months later moved on to France where he was twice wounded in action—at Pozières in August 1916 and Passchendaele in October 1917. When the great Allied offensive was launched on 8 August 1918, his unit was among those ordered to advance from Harbonnières and capture the high ground of Lihons north of Rosières. On approaching this German strong point on 9 August the 8th Battalion, its supporting tanks knocked out by heavy artillery fire, was halted by a line of machine-guns. Private Beatham's company worked its way forward to enfilade the enemy position and, assisted by Lance Corporal W. G. Nottingham, he rushed forward and bombed the crews of four guns, killing ten men and capturing ten others. This action enabled the battalion to renew its advance. Later the same day when nearing its objective on the southern slope of Lihons it was again halted by German reinforcements. Beatham, though wounded, rushed another machine-gun and bombed and silenced it, but was riddled with bullets. He was buried at Heath cemetery, Harbonnières. His award of the Victoria Cross was posthumous. The citation praised his 'most conspicuous bravery and self-sacrifice' which had 'inspired all ranks in a wonderful manner'.
Private Beatham's military records can be viewed here:
Private Thomas Cooke VC 8th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
Thomas Cooke was born on 5 July 1881 at Kaikoura, Marlborough. Educated at Kaikoura District High School, he later moved to Wellington. His hobby was music; was an excellent cornetist and belonged to the city's garrison band. In 1912, with his wife and three children, he migrated to Victoria, settling in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond. Cooke worked as a builder until World War I. On 16 February 1915 he enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force and after training at Broadmeadows and other camps was allotted to the 24th Battalion as a reinforcement. He embarked for Egypt in November and on arrival joined the 8th Battalion at Serapeum in the Suez Canal Zone. His unit sailed for France on 26 March 1916 and from April to July served in the Fleurbaix and Messines sectors of the Western Front.
In mid-July the battalion was moved south to the Somme where it took part in the furious fighting around Pozières. The task of advancing through the village itself had been allotted to the 8th Battalion and on 24-25 July 1916, as the men moved forward under an intense bombardment, Cooke was ordered, with his Lewis-gun team, to a dangerous part of the newly captured line. There was little cover, and heavy enemy fire killed all his companions, but he continued to hold out alone. When assistance finally reached him he was found dead beside his gun. For his gallantry he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. His name is commemorated on the roll of honour at the Australian war memorial, Villers-Bretonneux.
Private Cooke's military records can be viewed here:
Private Frank John Partridge VC 8th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
Frank John Partridge was born on 29 November 1924 at Grafton, New South Wales. Frank left Tewinga Public School at the age of 13 and worked on the family farm near Macksville. While serving in the Volunteer Defence Corps, he was called up for full-time duty in the Australian Military Forces on 26 March 1943. He was posted to the 8th Battalion, a Militia unit which moved to Lae, New Guinea, in May 1944 and to Emirau Island in September.
From June 1945 the 8th Battalion operated in northern Bougainville, containing Japanese forces on the Bonis Peninsula. On 24 July Partridge was a member of a patrol ordered to destroy an enemy post, known as Base 5, near Ratsua. The Australians came under heavy machine-gun fire. Despite wounds to his arm and thigh, Partridge rushed the nearest bunker, killing its occupants with grenade and knife, then began to attack a second bunker until loss of blood forced him to stop. He “inspired his comrades to heroic action”, and was awarded the Victoria Cross. Of the Australians who won the V.C. in World War II, he was the youngest and the last, and the only militiaman. After visiting London in 1946 for the Victory march, he was discharged from the A.M.F. on 17 October in New South Wales; he was again to travel to England in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and in 1956 for the Victoria Cross centenary celebrations. He was killed in a motorcar accident on 23 March 1964 near Bellingen and was buried with full military honours in Macksville cemetery.