- Author
- Wilson, Maury
- Subjects
- History - general
- Tags
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- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- September 1994 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
On the 29th of January, 1902 Major General Sir Thomas Henry Edward Hutton, an officer of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, at the invitation of the Australian Commonwealth Government, set up his headquarters at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne. Room 52A was his personal office over the door of which he hung a trophy of arms consisting of Martini-Henry socket bayonets alternating with cut-and-thrust bayonets, all of which radiated from a cut-out brass crown.
The general was charged with coordinating the then existing Colonial Military Forces into a single. Commonwealth force. At this time the South African War was still in progress and one of his first acts was to set up a Commonwealth contingent to be sent to South Africa. This was known as the “Australian Commonwealth Horse” the first battalion of which was due to embark and leave Melbourne aboard the S.S. St ANDREW about the 12th of February, 1902.
The general decided to issue a new badge for the contingent and a number of the drawings were inspected. However, none of these seemed to have pleased him as most of them depended on the unique flora and fauna of the country for their appeal. The general sought something of a more martial nature and finally approved a design based on the trophy of arms over his doorway. From the evidence available, it seems possible that the general designed it himself. It is certain that he approved the manufacture of the badge. This was done by means of a telegraph message, the original of which is held in a Department of the Army file, addressed to Colonel S.G. Hoad, Deputy Adjutant-General; he approved the manufacture of the badge.
The telegraph message, numbered 1194, was lodged at Sydney at 3.10 p.m. on 7th February, 1902 and read:
“RE BADGES, DESIGNS ONE AND TWO APPROVED. PLEASE CARRY OUT IN BRONZE OR DARK METAL“. The numbers designated those of the drawings sent to the general for approval. Designs one and two were for a large cap badge and a smaller badge for wearing on the collar. Colonel Hoad had, at an earlier date, sent to General Hutton a letter enclosing the various designs and had indicated that he had a duplicate set of the numbered drawings. This badge was hurriedly manufactured and issued to the 1st Battalion A.C.H.
After the rush and bustle of embarking the 1st Battalion had died away, a closer look was taken at the badge given to the first troops to leave, and a slightly re-designed badge was issued to later contingents. A further slight modification was made later in 1902, when an Australian contingent was sent to London for the Coronation of King Edward VII.
In 1903, during General Hutton’s period in command, a new Commonwealth uniform was authorised, and it was decided to have a General Service Badge designed at the same time. This task was given to J.R. Gaunt & Sons, Warstone Parade Works, Birmingham, and the final choice, which naturally, would have been made by General Hutton, was the “Rising Sun” as we now know it.
It is quite clear that, by this time, the badge was commonly known as the “Rising Sun”, as a letter, from Gaunt and Sons, written in 1938, seems to indicate: “We were told to embody the Rising Sun, Crown, and the lettering, Australian Commonwealth Military Forces“.
As the design of this badge does not contain a true heraldic representation of a rising sun, it may be reasonably assumed that the common name had been accepted by this time. A General Williams, who was the Surgeon-General, brought the designs back from England.
This is the badge which, with minor alterations, has existed to this day, and, in conjunction with the slouch hat, probably identifies the Australian soldier to most people of the world.
It will be noticed that, at no time, was the “Royal Assent” sought for the use of the badge. This, possibly, was due to the rush in producing the first badge, and, for later variations, the assumption that the “Assent” had been given. In actual fact, the first application for the “Royal Assent” was not made until the recently re-designed badge was brought into service. It was this application for “Assent” that brought the fact to light.