In the course of their duty individual army personnel and units may be granted honours and awards as a result of exemplary service.
Army Battle Honours
A battle honour is the award of a right by a government or sovereign to Army units and their sub-units to commemorate their significant achievements in a battle, or in a theatre of war or operations more generally, by way of an embellishment on their standards, guidons and colours, or in some other suitable manner.
Battle honours were inherited from colonial militia infantry and cavalry units that served in the First Sudan War and the first part Second Boer War. Australian Army units that fought in the last part of the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War were awarded British Army Imperial battle honours. The battle honours won by the Royal Australian Regiment during the Korean War were British Army Commonwealth battle honours.
The first Australian Army battle honours were awarded to the Australian Regular Army’s 1st Armoured Regiment, 3rd Cavalry Regiment and Royal Australian Regiment by the Governor-General of Australia on 24 June 1983, recognising those units’ service during the Vietnam War.
Battle Honours
Battle Honours (proper) may be awarded to armoured, infantry and aviation units to recognise their outstanding performance while engaged in close combat with an enemy force during a warlike operation.
Theatre Honours
Theatre Honours can be awarded to units of any corps (except the Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery and the Royal Australian Engineers) to recognise their creditable performance while deployed on a warlike operation.
Ubique
The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery and the Royal Australian Engineers have always had the universal and perpetual motto-cum-Battle Honour Ubique (‘everywhere’) that precludes the award of all other Battle Honours and Theatre Honours.
Honour Titles
Honour Titles may be awarded to units and sub-units of any corps to recognise outstanding performance when engaged in close combat with an enemy force, while deployed on warlike operations. Honour Titles are typically awarded where other considerations preclude the award of a Battle Honour.
To date, Honour Titles have only been awarded to artillery batteries, and only one Australian artillery battery has an Honour Title: 102nd (Coral) Field Battery. The Australian Army Honour Title Coral was retrospectively awarded to 102nd Field Battery by the Governor-General of Australia on 13 February 1983, in recognition of the battery’s outstanding performance during the Battle for Fire Support Base Coral in South Vietnam in 1968.
Honour Distinctions
Honour Distinctions can be awarded to recognise exceptional performance by units and sub-units of any corps while deployed on both warlike and non-warlike operations, and particularly when undertaking a role or tasks for which they have not been trained.
The Honour Distinction is a recently-created Australian Army battle honour, and only two have been awarded to date. The 17th Construction Squadron was awarded the Honour Distinction Namibia (1989–90) in 2017 and the 1st Signal Regiment was awarded the Honour Distinction Western Sahara (1991–94) in 2019.
Australian Army Honours
Australian Army Honours are unique to the Army Banner.
Australian Army Honours encapsulate a wide range of Army operations in a way that other battle honours, with their particular focus on warlike operations and combat, cannot.
Honorary Distinctions
Honorary Distinctions, as the Australian Army remembers them, were Imperial battle honours that resemble contemporary Theatre Honours.
The Australian Army inherited the Imperial Honorary Distinction, Suakin 1885. Suakin 1885 was won by the composite infantry battalion of the New South Wales Contingent sent to Sudan to support the British Army during the First Sudan War (1884–85). Suakin 1885 was inherited most recently by the Army Reserve’s Royal New South Wales Regiment, and today the honour is emblazoned on the regimental colours of all the Regiment’s battalions.
The Imperial Honorary Distinction South Africa 1899 – 1902 was initially won by colonial militia units from the British colonies in Australia and then by militia units of the newly raised Australian Army post-Federation. South Africa 1898 – 1902 is still emblazoned on the regimental colours of several Army Reserve infantry battalions, and the guidons of many Army Reserve armoured units.
The War in Afghanistan (2001–21) and Eastern Shah Wali Kot
Only one Australian Army Battle Honour has been awarded to an Australian Army unit since the Vietnam War. The Battle Honour Eastern Shah Wali Kot, won in Afghanistan in 2010, was approved by the Governor-General of Australia and awarded to the Australian Regular Army’s Special Air Service Regiment and 2nd Commando Regiment on 21 September 2012.
East Timor and INTERFET
The Australian Army Theatre Honour East Timor 1999 – 2003 was approved by the Governor-General of Australia and awarded to several Army units on 17 October 2019.
The Emergency in Malaya and the Confrontation with Indonesia in Malaysia
On 17 January 2012, the Governor-General of Australia approved the retrospective Australian Army Theatre Honours Malaya 1955 – 63 and Malaysia (Confrontation) 1964 – 66 and awarded the Honours to the Australian Regular Army’s Royal Australian Regiment.