Dec 132022
Post-nominal Honours in Order of Precedence – Australian Government

See also Post-nominal Honours in Alphabetical Order

This page details the order of precedence for post-nominal honours, showing you where the title falls in terms of importance. The list is always growing and changing as various holders retire or assume positions within the British Commonwealth.

Have you ever seen someone’s name with a string of letters/abbreviations after it and wondered what they meant? Most people recognize that MD stands for Medical Doctor and CPA means Certified Public Accountant. Those are called post-nominals and consist of abbreviations or initials to indicate that the individual holds a position, office or honour.

Post-nominals are written without periods. If a person has more than one, a comma is inserted between them. When there are several post-nominals after someone’s name, honours are listed first in descending order of precedence, followed by degrees and memberships of learned societies in ascending order.

Order of Australia (OAM, AM, AO, AC)
Only the highest Order of Australia award a person receives is used for their post-nominal. This means a person receiving the OAM, AM and AC is addressed as Jane Smith AC not Jane Smith OAM AM AC.

Post-nominal initials associated with honours granted by the Sovereign take precedence over other post-nominal initials. The special nature of the Victoria Cross (VC), the George Cross (GC) and the Cross of Valour (CV) requires their post-nominals to come before all others. Some obsolete positions are not listed unless recipients who continue to use the post-nominals even after the order becomes obsolete are still living.

Part 1

The list below is in order of precedence.

Orders and DecorationsPost-nominal Awarded
since Oct 1992
Post-nominal Awarded
before Oct 1992
 Victoria Cross and Victoria Cross for Australia 1VCVC
 George Cross 2, 5GC
 Cross of Valour 5CVCV
 Knight / Lady of the GarterKG / LGKG / LG
 Knight / Lady of the ThistleKT / LTKT / LT
 Knight / Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath 2GCB
 Order of MeritOMOM
 Knight / Dame of the Order of Australia 3AK / AD
 Knight / Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George 2GCMG
 Knight / Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian OrderGCVOGCVO
 Knight / Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire 2GBE
 Companion of the Order of AustraliaACAC
 Companion of Honour 2CH
 Knight / Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath 2KCB / DCB
 Knight / Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George 2KCMG / DCMG
 Knight / Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian OrderKCVO / DCVOKCVO / DCVO
 Knight / Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire 2KBE / DBE
 Knight Bachelor 2 (confers title of “Sir” / “Dame”)no postnominals
 Officer of the Order of AustraliaAOAO
 Companion of the Order of the Bath 2CB
 Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George 2CMG
 Commander of the Royal Victorian OrderCVOCVO
 Commander of the Order of the British Empire 2CBE
 Star of Gallantry 5SGSG
 Star of Courage (Australia)SCSC
 Companion of the Distinguished Service Order 2DSO
 Distinguished Service Cross (Australia) 5DSCDSC
 Member of the Order of AustraliaAMAM
 Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian OrderLVOLVO
 Officer of the Order of the British Empire 2OBE
 Companion of the Imperial Service Order 2ISO
 Member of the Royal Victorian OrderMVOMVO
 Member of the Order of the British Empire 2MBE
 Conspicuous Service Cross (Australia)CSCCSC
 Nursing Service Cross (Australia) 5NSCNSC
 Royal Red Cross (1st Class, Member) 2, 5RRC
 Distinguished Service Cross (UK) 2, 5DSC
 Military Cross 2MC
 Distinguished Flying Cross (UK) 2DFC
 Air Force Cross (UK) 2AFC
 Royal Red Cross (2nd Class, Associate) 2, 5ARRC
 Medal for GallantryMGMG
 Bravery Medal (Australia)BMBM

Part 2

The list below is in order of precedence.
Orders and DecorationsPost-nominal Awarded
since Oct 1992before Oct 1992
 Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) 5DSMDSM
 Public Service Medal (Australia)PSMPSM
 Australian Police MedalAPMAPM
 Australian Fire Service MedalAFSMAFSM
 Ambulance Service Medal (Australia)ASMASM
 Emergency Services Medal (Australia)ESMESM
 Medal of the Order of AustraliaOAMOAM
 Order of St John 3Varies
 Distinguished Conduct Medal 2, 5DCM
 Conspicuous Gallantry Medal 2, 5 CGM
 Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (Flying) 2, 5CGM
 George Medal 2GM
 Conspicuous Service MedalCSMCSM
 Australian Antarctic MedalAAMAAM
 Queen’s Police Medal for Gallantry 2QPM
 Queen’s Fire Service Medal for Gallantry 2QFSM
 Distinguished Service Medal (UK) 2, 5DSM
 Military Medal 2MM
 Distinguished Flying Medal 2DFM
 Air Force Medal 2AFM
 Sea Gallantry Medal 2SGM
 Queen’s Gallantry Medal 2QGM
 Royal Victorian MedalRVMRVM
 British Empire Medal 2BEM
 Queen’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service 2QPM
 Queen’s Fire Service Medal for Distinguished Service 2QFSM
 Reserve Force DecorationRFDRFD

Legislators

 Member of the Australian House of RepresentativesMP
 Member of the Legislative AssemblyMLA
 Member of the Legislative CouncilMLC
 Member of the House of Assembly (Tasmania)MHA

Legal Positions

 Queen’s CounselQC
 Senior CounselSC
 Justice of the PeaceJP
 Special Justice (South Australia)SJ

Vice Regal Appointments

 Aide-de-Camp to the Governor-General or State GovernorADC

Notes:
1 Refers to both the Imperial Victoria Cross and the Victoria Cross for Australia. Awarding of the Imperial
   Victoria Cross to Australian citizens ended when the Victoria Cross for Australia was created as part
   of the Australian Honours System in 1991. The Australian Victoria Cross has yet to be awarded.
   There have been 96 Australians awarded the Victoria Cross.
2 These are Imperial awards. All Imperial awards made to Australian citizens after 5 October 1992 are
   classed as foreign awards, and hence such Australian citizens are not entitled to use the associated
   post-nominal letters. However, those presented with these awards before that date are still permitted
   to use the post-nominal letters.
3 Post-nominals within the Order of St John are not recognised as notified in the Governor-General’s
   media release of 14 August 1982.
4 Provision for further awards at the Knight & Dame level within the Order of Australia was removed by
  Her Majesty The Queen on 3 March 1986 on the advice of the Prime Minister. Those who have been
  awarded this rank are still permitted to use the title and the post-nominal letters.
5 In the period 1975-1991, for Australian citizens and ADF personnel, a number of Imperial awards were
   replaced by Australian awards. See charts below:

For Citizens

Date
Imperial award
Australian award

1975GCGeorge CrossCVCross of Valour (Australia)
18 Oct 1989RRC & ARRCRoyal Red CrossNSCNursing Service Cross (Australia)

For ADF Personnel

DateImperial award
Australian award

DCM
Distinguished Conduct Medal
15 Jan 1991CGMConspicuous Gallantry MedalSGStar of Gallantry

DSO
Distinguished Service Order
1991DSCDistinguished Service Cross (UK)DSC
Distinguished Service Cross (Australia)
1991DSMDistinguished Service Medal (UK)DSMDistinguished Service Medal (Australia)

Notes:
1 Refers to both the Imperial Victoria Cross and the Victoria Cross for Australia. Awarding of the Imperial
   Victoria Cross to Australian citizens ended when the Victoria Cross for Australia was created as part
   of the Australian Honours System in 1991. The Australian Victoria Cross has yet to be awarded.
   There have been 96 Australians awarded the Victoria Cross.
2 These are Imperial awards. All Imperial awards made to Australian citizens after 5 October 1992 are
   classed as foreign awards, and hence such Australian citizens are not entitled to use the associated
   post-nominal letters. However, those presented with these awards before that date are still permitted
   to use the post-nominal letters.
3 Post-nominals within the Order of St John are not recognised as notified in the Governor-General’s
   media release of 14 August 1982.
4 Provision for further awards at the Knight & Dame level within the Order of Australia was removed by
  Her Majesty The Queen on 3 March 1986 on the advice of the Prime Minister. Those who have been
  awarded this rank are still permitted to use the title and the post-nominal letters.
5 In the period 1975-1991, for Australian citizens and ADF personnel, a number of Imperial awards were
   replaced by Australian awards. 


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