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   Pages at this level:  Appendix I | Appendix II | Appendix III | Appendix IV
 

Appendix I — Titles, honours and forms of address

List of contents

Space does not permit an exhaustive discussion of all the styles and titles, awards, honours and forms of address in common use in Australia. Some general practices of particular importance are described below. More detailed guidance will be found in Hyslop (1991), Joel (1988) and in Debrett's Handbook of Australia (1991).

Titles and honorifics

The right to titles

Everyone has the right to a title that precedes his or her name. This may be a conventional title—Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms—or it may be an honorific title or a title derived from rank, qualification or status such as Dame, Doctor or The Honourable. Some titles are shown after the name and are known as postnominals; they also indicate rank, qualification or status, such as AM (Member of the Order of Australia) or CPA (Certified Public Accountant).

Honours and awards

Honours and awards are indicated by titles, which may be prefixed or affixed. Honorific prefixed titles include royal titles, and titles of peers, knights and dames. Prefixed titles of rank and status include marks of ecclesiastic, academic or professional distinction—principally descriptive titles such as Professor, Doctor or Archbishop. Honorific affixed titles and affixed titles of rank and status—postnominals—consist of abbreviations or initials.

The following list is the Australian order of precedence of honours and awards as set out in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette of 15 January 1993. Postnominal initials have been added to those that carry them.

Victoria Cross  VC
George Cross   GC
Cross of Valour   CV
Knight / Lady of the Garter   KG / LG
Knight / Lady of the Thistle   KT / LT
Knight / Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath   GCB
Order of Merit   OM

Knight / Dame of the Order of Australia  
AK / AD
(Provision for further awards at this level within the Order of Australia was removed by the Queen on 3 March 1986 on the advice of the Prime Minister)
Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George   GCMG
Knight / Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order   GCVO
Knight / Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire   GBE
Companion of the Order of Australia   AC
Companion of Honour   CH
Knight / Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath   KCB / DCB
Knight / Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George  
   KCMG / DCMG
Knight / Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order   KCVO / DCVO
Knight / Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire   KBE / DBE
Knight Bachelor Officer of the Order of Australia   AO
Companion of the Order of the Bath   CB
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George   CMG
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order   CVO
Commander of the Order of the British Empire   CBE
Star of Gallantry   SG
Star of Courage    
Companion of the Distinguished Service Order  DSO
Distinguished Service Cross   DSC
Member of the Order of Australia   AM
Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order   LVO
Officer of the Order of the British Empire   OBE
Companion of the Imperial Service Order   ISO
Member of the Royal Victorian Order   MVO
Member of the Order of the British Empire   MBE
Conspicuous Service Cross   CSC
Nursing Service Cross   NSC
Royal Red Cross (1st Class)   RRC
Distinguished Service Cross  DSC
Military Cross   MC
Distinguished Flying Cross   DFC
Air Force Cross   AFC
Royal Red Cross (2nd Class)   ARRC
Medal for Gallantry   MG
Bravery Medal  BM
Distinguished Service Medal   DSM
Public Service Medal   PSM
Australian Police Medal   APM
Australian Fire Service Medal   AFSM
Medal of the Order of Australia   OAM
Order of St JohnDistinguished Conduct Medal   DCM
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal   CGM
George Medal   GM
Conspicuous Service Medal   CSM
Antarctic Medal
Queen's Police Medal for Gallantry   QPM
Queen's Fire Service Medal for Gallantry   QFSM
Distinguished Service Medal   DSM
Military Medal   MM
Distinguished Flying Medal   DFM
Air Force Medal   AFM
Queen's Gallantry Medal   QGM
Royal Victorian Medal   RVM
British Empire Medal   BEM
Queen's Police Medal for Distinguished Service   QPM
Queen's Fire Service Medal for Distinguished Service   QFSM
Commendation for Gallantry
Commendation for Brave Conduct
Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct
Commendation for Distinguished Service
War Medals / Australian Active Service Medal (in order of date of qualifying service)
Australian Service Medal
Police Overseas Service Medal
Polar Medal
Imperial Service Medal
Coronation and Jubilee Medals (in order of date of receipt)
Defence Force Service Medal
Reserve Force Decoration   RFD
Reserve Force Medal
National Medal
Champion Shots Medal
Long Service Medals
Independence and Anniversary Medals (in order of date of receipt)
Foreign Awards (in order of date of authorisation of their acceptance and wearing)

Postnominals

Postnominals are written without stops, but commas are inserted between them when there are more than one:

    AC, MBE

The rule for postnominals is that the higher the honour the nearer its position to the person's name. Postnominal initials associated with honours granted by the Sovereign take precedence over other postnominal initials. The special eminence of the Victoria Cross, the George Cross and the Cross of Valour requires that the initials VC, GC, and CV precede all others.

Initials for honours and awards are shown in their order of precedence. Next follow abbreviations for Queen's Counsel (QC) and Justice of the Peace (JP). Other initials are then given in the following order:

    University degrees and diplomas
    Membership of associations and societies
    Membership of Parliament

When a person is promoted within an order, the letters indicating the honour previously held are no longer used. Thus when a member of the Order of Australia:

    Ms Margaret Norton, AM

is promoted to an officer of the Order, she becomes:

    Ms Margaret Norton, AO [not AO, AM)]

Where to place titles

Prefixed titles of rank and status stand immediately before a person's name and after honorific forms of address. Viceregal, ecclesiastic and armed services titles usually precede all others.

'Sir' and 'Dame'

A baronet or knight bachelor is entitled to the title Sir before his given name provided that no title indicative of higher rank is more appropriate. The following honours for men also entitle the holder to the title Sir:

    KG, KT, GCB, AK, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, KCB, KCMG, KCVO, KBE

In like manner, provided that no higher rank is held, the following honours for women entitle the holder to the title Dame:

    GCB, AD, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DCB, DCMG, DCVO, DBE

When addressing persons entitled to Dame or Sir it is customary to employ the preferred given name before the surname:

    Dame Ethel Dahl
    Sir George Ashcroft

The wife of 'Sir Archbold Dabro' is called 'Lady Dabro'; it is not customary to employ her given name before the surname. A husband derives no title from being married to a dame.

'The Honourable'

The title The Honourable (usually written The Hon.) is accorded to holders of the following offices:

Commonwealth

    Members of the Federal Executive Council
    Ministers
    President of the Senate
    Speaker of the House of Representatives
    Judges of the High Court
    Presidential Members of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission
    Judges of the Federal Court
    Judges of the Family Court

States and Territories

    Members of the Executive Council
    Members of the Legislative Council
    Speaker of the Legislative Assembly (not ACT)
    Leader of the Opposition (Tasmania)
    Judges of the Supreme Court
    Chief Judge, Family Court (Western Australia)
    President, Industrial Court (South Australia)

Names

Individuals

A person's name comprises a title, given name or initials, surname and postnominals. When there is only one given name, this is shown in full. When there is more than one given name, however, it is customary to show only the initials. It is no longer customary for a married woman to be addressed with the given name or initials of her husband, for example:

    Mrs Lucinda Philpott not Mrs Graham Philpott

Nor does every married woman now take her husband's surname. Care is needed here in order to observe individual preferences. 

Organisations

Names of organisations can be shortened but they need to be clearly identified; some organisations are known locally by initials which may be meaningless elsewhere.

Foreign names

When writing to a person in another country one needs to observe the conventions of that country, whereas when writing to someone with a 'foreign' name living in Australia, one can assume a degree of anglicisation.

In some countries names are shown in a different order from names in English. In Korea, for example, the surname is shown first. The composition of some foreign names is another matter to be watched. In German names, the family prefix von takes the lower case, as does van in Dutch. Likewise in France, de and d' are in lower case. However, du in some cases, for example in Du Fair, takes a capital letter. When it begins a sentence, von, van or de is capitalised.

Note too that in some countries less use is made of surnames than is the case in Australia. Thus while a Thai woman formally takes her husband's family name, she continues to be addressed by her first name, changing from

    Miss Ngamnate to Mrs Ngamnate

It is best to ascertain what the person prefers, either by noting this from written material, such as a letter from the person, or by asking directly.

Conventional titles

The conventional titles are Mr, Miss, Mrs and Ms.  Usage in respect of the last three is changing in Australia. There is a move towards using the title Ms for all women, the justification being that, like Mr, it does not indicate marital status. But there are divisions on this in the community. The most satisfactory guide is to try to ascertain the preference of the person being addressed. Where this preference is not known, the practice most likely to avoid offence is to use Ms unless one knows that the woman is or has been married, in which case Mrs is recommended. For more details, see Hyslop (1991).

Forms of address

In correspondence, forms of address are the ways of beginning and ending a letter. They consist of three parts—name, salutation and complimentary close. The salutation is the opening of a letter; its commonest form is, for example:

    Dear Mr Vigano

The complimentary close, written at the end of a letter, takes the form:

    Yours faithfully

or a variant of it.

The salutation and complimentary close are used in pairs and should be in harmony. Thus 'Dear Madam' is used with 'Yours faithfully', while a letter to 'Dear Mrs Heysen' concludes with 'Yours sincerely'.

When writing to someone whose preference for a form of address is known, follow that preference. To assist here, writers of letters should identify themselves precisely in their own letters, giving their preferred titles and postnominals (if any). A reply to a letter should use the form of address indicated in the letter.

Royalty

Her Majesty's title in Australia is as follows:

    Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth

Letters to the Queen should be addressed to:

    Private Secretary to Her Majesty the Queen

The Queen's husband is His Royal Highness the Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Letters to Prince Philip should be addressed to:

    Private Secretary to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh

The Queen's eldest son is Prince Charles the Prince of Wales. His wife is referred to as the Princess of Wales, not as Princess Diana. Letters to Prince Charles should be addressed to:

    Private Secretary to HRH the Prince of Wales

Note that the prefix the before 'Prince' and 'Princess' is used only for the Queen's immediate family, as in the formulation 'the Prince Andrew'.

Letters to the Princess of Wales are addressed to:

    Private Secretary to HRH the Princess of Wales

Viceroyalty

Governor-General

The present Governor-General prefers to be addressed as:

    The Hon. Bill Hayden, AC
    Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia

The title His Excellency is not used.

Correspondence to the Governor-General should be addressed to the Official Secretary at Government House. If the Governor-General is addressed personally, the salutation and close is:

    Formal:Sir … Yours faithfully
    Less formal:My dear Governor-General … Yours sincerely

Administrator

When the Governor-General is absent, the same conventions as for the Governor-General apply to the Administrator.

Governor (of a State)

The title His or Her Excellency precedes all other ranks and titles. The Governor's spouse is not known as Her or His Excellency.

Lieutenant-Governor (of a State)

The Lieutenant-Governor is not known as His or Her Excellency. However, in the absence of the Governor he or she is addressed as:

    His [Her] Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor of …

Correspondence to the Governor-General or to a Governor should be addressed to the Official Secretary at Government House. Similarly, correspondence for the wife or husband of the Governor-General or Governor should be addressed to the Official Secretary, or alternatively to the Private Secretary.

Peers, baronets, knights and dames

Peers and baronets

Detailed guidance on addressing peers and baronets is to be found in Joel (1988) and in Debrett's Handbook of Australia; for the more usual cases see Hyslop (1991).

Knights and dames

There are various orders of knighthood, namely Garter, Thistle, St Patrick, Bath, Star of India, St Michael and St George, Indian Empire, Royal Victorian, British Empire and Knight Bachelor. Knights and dames are distinguished by being addressed as, for example:

    Sir George Mallaby or Dame Mary Stokes

and by the postnominals that attach. Note, however, that Knights Bachelor have no postnominal.

Members of Parliament

The postnominals which indicate that a person is a member of Parliament are always shown last.

Membership of the House of Representatives in the Federal Parliament confers no prefixed title. Members use the postnominal MP. There has been some use of the initials MHR, but they do not have official sanction.

Members of the Senate have the prefixed title Senator, but this confers no postnominal.

Members of parliaments in the States use the postnominals MLC, MLA and MHA and are thus distinguished from federal members. Some members of State parliaments, however, now prefer the postnominal MP.

Ministers

It is no longer the practice to appoint senior federal ministers as members of the Privy Council. When the Prime Minister was so appointed, the form of address was:

    The Right Hon. Clifford Thornberg
    Prime Minister of Australia

All ministers in both the Federal Government and the State Governments have the title The Honourable, usually abbreviated to The Hon.  For example:

    The Hon. Barry Truman
    Minister for Defence

Ministers in the Senate are styled:

    Senator the Hon. Denise Cottrell
    Minister for Communications

Territories

Australian Capital Territory

The Speaker and ministers in the ACT Legislative Assembly do not use the honorific title The Honourable. They should be addressed with their own personal preferred titles, obtainable from the Assembly's office.

Northern Territory

The Administrator of the Northern Territory is addressed as, for example:

    His Honour the Administrator Mr J. Q. Vandenberg

Ministers in the Government and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory have the title The Honourable.

Local government

In local government there is a variety of titles: Mayor, President, Alderman, Councillor.

The lord mayors of Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney have the title The Right Honourable attached to their offices but not to their names. There is no related honorific for their spouses. The titles Alderman and Councillor do not change if the lord mayor is a woman. The lord mayors of Brisbane, Hobart and Sydney are aldermen, in Adelaide and Perth they use only the conventional title (Mr etc.); the lord mayor of Melbourne is councillor.

The lord mayors of Darwin, Newcastle and Wollongong are addressed as 'The Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of …'

The lady mayoress, wife of a lord mayor, is addressed as 'The Lady Mayoress of …'

The mayor of Geelong is addressed as 'The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Geelong'. Mayors of other cities are addressed as 'His (or Her) Worship the Mayor of …' The mayoress, wife of a mayor, is addressed as 'The Mayoress of …'

A Shire President is addressed as 'The Shire President'.

An alderman, man or woman, is addressed as 'Alderman …' Similarly, a councillor is addressed as 'Councillor …'

Diplomatic

Ambassadors and high commissioners have the honorific His [Her] Excellency, but not after they have retired. The wife of an ambassador or a high commissioner is entitled to the title Her Excellency when in the country to which her husband is accredited, but this honorific is now less common. The husband of an ambassador or high commissioner is not thereby entitled to the honorific His Excellency.

Other diplomatic and consular staff are addressed by name and appointment with only their personal titles.

Ecclesiastics

For guidance in addressing ecclesiastics see Hyslop (1991). Note that:

–a spiritual title precedes a temporal title;
–it is important to avoid the common error:

    Reverend Tannenberg

which is like saying, for example, Sir Smith. Reverend always takes initials or given name before the surname.

Judiciary

The appointment of women as judges and the dislike of sexism have moved most courts in Australia to avoid the conventional titles Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms, so that judges are now addressed as, for example:

    The Hon. Justice Samuel Simpkins

Members of the bench are called Justice in the High Court, the Federal Court and the Family Court in the federal judicature and in the supreme courts in the States and Territories; they have the title The Honourable. In district and county courts, members of the bench are called Judge, and have the title His or Her Honour.

Armed services

In formal correspondence officers in the armed services are addressed by their rank, given names or initials, surnames, and any postnominals. In informal correspondence, officers of the rank of army lieutenant, navy sublieutenant and air force flying officer and below are given conventional titles (Mr, Ms, Mrs or Miss), and officers of the rank of colonel and above can be addressed in the salutation by their rank alone without their name.

In correspondence, non-commissioned officers and other ranks are addressed by their rank and surname, not by their given name.

Postnominals for honours and awards are shown immediately after the surname and before abbreviations that indicate service or regiment.

Rank titles that consist of two words are shown without a hyphen, for example Lieutenant Colonel. A military rank precedes other titles. Chaplains have military rank but they are addressed with their ecclesiastical title only.

Academics and professionals

Academics

Postnominals representing tertiary education qualifications are usually restricted to correspondence within the academic community or in correspondence where the qualifications are cited as a warrant of expertness.

The title Doctor can be abbreviated to Dr in the form:

    Dear Dr O'Loughlin

but it is not abbreviated in the form:

    Dear Doctor

The title Professor is best spelt out in full.

Professionals

Professionally qualified people addressed in the context of their profession are given their prefixed and postnominal professional titles, for example:

    Dr Brent Hulot, FRACI

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities do not acknowledge a style common to all groups, most people now have given names and surnames, so that in addressing letters to them the standard Australian conventions usually apply. Some, however, are properly addressed by their traditional names with no conventional title.

Others

When one is writing to a group of women, the salutation Mesdames is better than Dear Mesdames. The salutation Dear Madams is not used in Australia.

Messrs may be used when one is addressing brothers but not when addressing father and son, who should be addressed as, for example:

    Mr Gerald and Mr Maurice Day

Messrs is acceptable when addressing a partnership, for example:

    Messrs Golightly and Limburner

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Last updated July 2001