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Background:

Instituted in February 1975 for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril. It is the second highest Australian Bravery Decoration. Although designed primarily as a civilian award, the Star of Courage (SC) can be awarded to Military personnel. The Star of Courage has been awarded 148 times, the last awards being announced in 2018 to 2 members of the Australian Medical Assistance Team who provided critical medical care during the underground rescue at the Tham Luang cave system in Northern Thailand.

Design:

The Star of Courage is a silver seven-pointed star, ensigned with the Crown of Saint Edward in silver. The star is surmounted by a silver suspender bar of fixed configuration, with the raised words ‘for courage’ running the width of the bar on the obverse. On the obverse the star bears a central device of the shield and crest of the Arms of the Commonwealth of Australia with the seven points of the star having a raised textured finish. The reverse of the star has a raised textured finish all over but the suspender bar is clear to allow for engraving of the recipient’s name. The medal ribbon is blood-red with a 14mm central magenta band. When the ribbon bar is worn, a representation of the star, 5 millimetres in diameter, is attached at the centre of the ribbon.

Bars:

Provision is made for the award of a bar for subsequent acts of courage at the same level to have merited the award of the Star of Courage.

Star of Courage

Citation

Mr John Wust. On the afternoon of 3 August 2003, Mr Wust rescued a man and a woman from a burning vehicle after an accident on the Leichhardt Highway near Biloela, Queensland. Mr Wust was travelling south with his wife on the Leichhardt Highway towards Biloela when he saw a station wagon on its roof with large amounts of smoke coming from the engine. Mr Wust stopped his car and asked his wife to turn on the hazard warning lights and to ring 000 emergency. He then ran to the overturned vehicle and saw a man and woman trapped inside in their seats. Both were unconscious. The driver´s door was jammed and the car had burst into flames. Mr Wust realised the man and woman would burn to death if he did not act quickly. After considerable effort, he forced open the back door on the driver´s side, freed the female driver from her seat belt and dragged her out of the car. The flames were now spreading, with the engine compartment well alight. Mr Wust could feel the heat from the front of the car. Although someone yelled at him not to go back into the vehicle because it was about to explode, Mr Wust returned to help the trapped male passenger. He climbed over the heavy set man and managed to free his broken foot and drag him through the back door of the car. Other people helped Mr Wust to move the man and the woman away from the car before it exploded. By his actions, Mr Wust displayed conspicuous courage.

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