In 1968, the policy that Service awards may only be re-issued to the entitled member when the originals are lost, stolen or damaged, even after their discharge from the Australian Defence Force was introduced.
This policy has been reviewed by successive governments, however, the basis for the original policy has prevailed. Any relaxation of this policy would have very real practical difficulties. Firstly, it would detract from main purpose of Service awards and secondly, the demand for replacements would rapidly increase and place demands on finite resources.
Service awards are, along with other valuable personal belongings, the responsibility of the recipient. It is expected that those who are entrusted to look after them, including the families of deceased recipients, take reasonable care to ensure that they are safe from casual loss or damage. Along with other valuable items and heirlooms, they should be insured as part of home contents and protected from such loss or damage. In the case of loss or damage of Service awards, particularly bequeathed awards, the Commonwealth is not liable for their replacement, as there is no earned entitlement by the beneficiaries concerned.
The policy states that free replacement of Service awards may only be made to the entitled member or ex-member whose service earned the awards, and will not occur if the awards have been sold or given away. Replacement will not normally occur until a period of two months has elapsed from the date of loss to allow adequate time for recovery. In claiming replacement awards, the applicant is to certify that no compensation has been received for the loss and that no compensation will be claimed.
Where satisfactory evidence of the loss, theft or damage of an original award is produced, a replacement award may only be issued once at public expense by direct application to the Department of Defence. Any subsequent claims will be considered on their merits.
An award bestowed by a foreign government will not be replaced, except in the case of a campaign award issued by the Australian Government acting on behalf of the foreign power. The only awards in this case are the United Nations Service Medal for Korea and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
Replacement medals will be identified by engraving the letter D' for duplicate at a distance of 10mm after the normal inscription.
An application for replacement awards is to be accompanied by a Statutory Declaration detailing how, when and where the loss occurred. This declaration is also to contain a certification that no compensation has been received and that, in the event of a free replacement being made, no such compensation will be claimed. Please complete the Application for the Issue of Replacement Medals form which can be found on the Applications Forms page of this website. click here
For various legislative and practical reasons, Defence cannot replace lost deceased Service awards on repayment. However, entitlements of deceased members can be obtained from Defence Honours and Awards in order for families to purchase replica awards from commercial military memorabilia outlets. Many of these replicas are of very high quality and cannot be distinguished from the originals.