Mar2015_Victoria Cross for Australia

About the award

The Victoria Cross for Australia was introduced as part of the Australian honours system in 1991.  It replaced the Imperial Victoria Cross.  The Imperial Victoria Cross was created by The Queen in 1856.  The Imperial Victoria Cross has been awarded to ninety six Australians in the following conflicts:

6 in the Boer War 1899-1902

64 in World War I 1914-1918

2 in North Russia 1919

20 in World War II 1939-1945

4 in Vietnam 1962-1972

Nine of the crosses awarded in World War I were for Australians at Gallipoli.  While most recipients received the Victoria Cross while serving with Australian forces, five Australians received the award while serving with South African and British units.  The first award of the Victoria Cross for Australia was made in 2009 followed by the second award in 2011, the third in 2012 and the fourth award in 2014.  All four awards are for action in Afghanistan.

John Hamilton, a soldier and wharf laborer was born on 24 January 1896 at Orange New South Wales and was the son of William and Catherine Hamilton. 

Nothing is known of his schooling but he described himself as a butcher when he enlisted as a private in the Australian Imperial Force on 15 September 1914.

He was posted to the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade and embarked from Sydney to Egypt where after training his battalion sailed for Gallipoli and took part in the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915.  A month later he was evacuated with influenza and returned to his Battalion in June.

At 4 a.m. on 9 August, during the battle of Lone Pine, the Turks launched a bomb attack followed by a violent general assault with intense rifle and machine-gun fire.  The 3rd Battalion counter attacked and drove them back but soon afterwards Turkish soldiers again streamed down the sap. Lieutenant Howell-Price, the adjutant of the 3rd Battalion, ordered several men, including Hamilton, to scramble onto the parapet and fire on the enemy in the trenches while he confronted those advancing along the sap.  Exposed to intense fire and protected only by a few sandbags, Hamilton lay out in the open for six hours telling those in the trenches where to throw their bombs while he kept up constant sniper fire.  As a consequence of this action, a dangerous assault was thus halted.

For his ‘coolness and daring example’ he received the Victoria Cross, the only one awarded to his unit during the war.  The 3rd Battalion was decimated at Lone Pine but after reorganization in Egypt, it left for France in March 1916 and went into the line at Armentieres.  Hamilton was promoted corporal on 3 May.  He fought at Pozieres in July, Mouquet Farm in August and Flers in November.

He was promoted Sergeant in May 1917 and that year his battalion served at Bullecourt, Menin Road and Broodseinde.  On 5 July 1918 Hamilton was posted to No.5 Officer Cadet Battalion at Cambridge, England; he was commissioned Second Lieutenant in January 1919 and subsequently promoted to Lieutenant two months later in April.  Hamilton rejoined a much-depleted 3rd Battalion in France later that month and returned to Australia in August.  His AIF appointment ended on 12 September.

After demobilization he lived at Tempe, Sydney and worked as a wharf labourer.  With the declaration of WW2, he once again enlisted and served as a Lieutenant with the 16th Garrison Battalion and several training battalions.  In 1942 he went to New Guinea with the 3rd Pioneer Battalion, later serving with the Australian Labour Employment Companies until 1944 when he transferred to the Australian Army Labour Service.  He was promoted to Captain in the Australian Military Forces in October 1944.  He returned to Sydney in April 1946.

Hamilton died of cerebro-vascular disease in the Repatriation General Concord, Sydney, on 27 February 1961 and was buried in Woronora cemetery.  He was survived by his wife and one son.

Lest We Forget