King Charles III Coronation Medal Presentation

Recipients of the King Charles the Third Coronation Medal, Mr Keith Payne VC AM; Mr Daniel Keighran VC and Mr Victor Boscoe CV; your family and friends, welcome all.

I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people with us this morning.

I am delighted that you have been able to join us for today’s special ceremony and I extend a warm Fernberg welcome to you all, especially the three exceptional Australians who have just received their King Charles the Third Coronation Medals.

As the personal representative of the Sovereign in our State, I have the privilege and pleasure of investing many Queenslanders with awards under our Australian Honours System, but today, I am truly honoured because the medals I have presented are a personal gift from our King to those who have received our country’s highest bravery decorations, the Victoria Cross and the Cross of Valour.

In the United Kingdom, the medal was awarded to thousands of British citizens to thank them for their contribution to the Coronation or for their commitment to the British Armed Forces or emergency and prison services.

However, here in Australia, it has been awarded only to living recipients of the Victoria Cross or the Cross of Valour. As a consequence, while 130,000 Coronation Medals were awarded in the UK, there were just 10 Australians who have received this prestigious honour – and I’m delighted that three of them are able to be here today.

In extending eligibility for the Coronation Medal to Australians who have received our nation’s highest awards for bravery, His Majesty was following a precedent set generations ago by British monarchs.

His mother, Queen Elizabeth the Second, had medals struck not only for her Coronation but also for her Silver, Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilees. In fact, in November 2022, I had the honour of presenting all three of today’s awardees with their Platinum Jubilee Medals as gifts from Her Majesty, and Mr Boscoe also received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.

In having a medal struck to mark his coronation in May last year, King Charles III was also following another extraordinary precedent – the 500-year custom of British monarchs distributing largesse to the people in the form of coins or medals to mark their coronation.

The custom appears to have begun at the coronation of Charles the First, in 1626, when the Lord Treasurer threw coins out into the crowd at Westminster Abbey and to spectators along the route outside.

The practice continued for the next 200 years – for nine more coronations! That is, until June 1838, at the coronation of Queen Victoria, when normally sedate officers of the realm, including judges and privy councillors, took part in a rather undignified scramble for the medals.

The Sun newspaper at the time included a very excited report of the event: “Guardsmen were very active in diving among the benches for these treasures; a few swords were snapped, and all rank was forgotten in the turbulent demonstration of loyalty”.

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, that was the last time medals were distributed in this way!

Victoria’s son, Edward the Seventh, restored decorum by introducing the system which still operates today whereby personalised, dated medals are presented to those who play a role in Coronation arrangements or who have performed in a particular role or rank in the service of the country.

There has certainly been no need for an unseemly rush today, although the Government House chefs, as always, have produced a celebratory spread for us all that is certainly worthy of a scramble! I do hope you are able to join us in the Drawing Room and I look forward very much to meeting and talking to you all.

Congratulations again to the medal recipients on their latest honour – I know you will wear it with pride. Thank you.