The Star of Courage is awarded for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril. It is the second highest Australian Bravery Decoration. Only four Queensland Police officers have been in receipt of the Star of Courage since the award was established in February 1975.
The Star of Courage is a silver, ribbed star with seven points ensigned with the Crown of St Edward. The obverse has the shield and crest of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms Surmounted by a Federation Star. A suspender bar is engraved with the words For Courage. The medal ribbon is blood-red with a central magenta band.
Image courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Australian Bravery Decorations date from the establishment of the Australian honours system in. The Group Bravery Citation was added in 1990.
The decorations recognise acts of bravery by members of the community.
There are four levels of decoration:
- Cross of Valour (CV)
- Star of Courage (SC)
- Bravery Medal (BM)
- Commendation for Brave Conduct
On 6 June 1986, Rodney Lew Edwards joined the Queensland Police as a Constable with his first posting at the Woolloongabba Police Station. Less than five weeks later, at about 8.40pm on 10 July 1986, the Constable was on an official meal break at the Boomerang Café on Main Street, Kangaroo Point, when he heard a loud crash and went to investigate. It was discovered that three motor vehicles had collided outside the café, with one of the vehicles upside-down and well alight.
Two passers-by were dragging the female driver clear of the burning wreckage but her body was on fire. Constable Edwards smothered the flames with blankets then helped to move the badly injured women clear of the crash scene. It was then that the Constable learned there was a child strapped into the rear seat of the burning car and made several desperate attempts to free the child from its restraint harness.
Due to the intense heat and flames, Constable Edwards was forced away from the burning vehicle and could not save the trapped infant.
Assistant Commissioner Ron Redmond congratulates Constable Rodney Edwards for his attempts to rescue a child from a burning car. Constable Edwards, with no regard to his own safety, tried to free the child following a multiple vehicle crash at Kangaroo Point on July 10, 1986.
Image No. PM3490 courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
By his actions Constable Edwards displayed conspicuous courage in most perilous circumstances. He was awarded a Favourable Record after having suffered burns to his face and hands, and the Star of Courage at a ceremony held on March 16, 1988.
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing. The Police Museum is open from 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb – Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.
Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM THE VAULT – Courage by Constable Edwards in 1986” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode