The Emergency Services Medal (ESM) is awarded for distinguished service by a member of an Australian emergency service, and people who are involved in emergency management, training or education.
The medal was introduced in 1999, and recipients are entitled to use the post-nominal letters "ESM".
Awards are made by the Governor-General, on the nomination of the responsible minister in each state or territory, and at the federal level. The total number of awards made each year must not exceed the following quota:
* One medal for every 1000 full-time members, or part of 1000, full-time members of the emergency service (or combined emergency services) of each state.
* One medal for every 5000, or part of 5000 part-time, volunteer or auxiliary members of the emergency service (or combined emergency services).
* One medal may be awarded in each of the
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...
, the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
and the combined
External Territories.
Description
* The central motif on the obverse of the Emergency Services Medal is a raised
equilateral triangle
In geometry, an equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides have the same length. In the familiar Euclidean geometry, an equilateral triangle is also equiangular; that is, all three internal angles are also congruent to each othe ...
with
bevel
A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage they are often interchanged, while in technical usage they ...
ed edges. This is bordered by stylised sprays of
wattle. The centre of the triangle features a raised impression of the
Federation Star
The Commonwealth Star (also known as the Federation Star, the Seven Point Star, or the Star of Federation) is a seven-pointed star symbolising the Federation of Australia which came into force on 1 January 1901.
Six points of the Star represen ...
that is surrounded by twenty-four balls. The balls represent the twenty-four hours per day the Emergency Service is available to the community.
* The reverse has the inscription ‘For Distinguished Service’.
* The medal has silver and bronze colouring.
* The 32 millimetre-wide ribbon features a centre band of an orange and white
checkerboard
A checkerboard (American English) or chequerboard (British English; see spelling differences) is a board of checkered pattern on which checkers (also known as English draughts) is played. Most commonly, it consists of 64 squares (8×8) of altern ...
pattern, flanked on each outer edge by a royal blue band. .
See also
Australian Honours Order of Precedence
The Governor-General of Australia has, at irregular intervals, notified for general information the positioning of the wearing of Australian Orders, Decorations and Medals in the ''Commonwealth of Australia Gazette''. The ''Order of Wearing Aust ...
References
It's an HonourAustralian Government website
{{Australian Honours System
Civil awards and decorations of Australia
1999 establishments in Australia
Awards established in 1999
Long and Meritorious Service Medals of Britain and the Commonwealth