This image is based on the Society’s original 1895 Certificate of Merit. it embodies:
“The allegorical figure of a woman, gracious and resolute who typifies the Society and its work. Against a background of angry grey-green sea a ship with rent sails and shattered masts is struggling in the surf. Standing firmly above the surging ocean on solid rock the woman’s right hand rests on the head of a child she has rescued, and she stretches forth her left hand with a laurel wreath to honour the brave.”
PATRON-IN-CHIEF
His Majesty King Charles III
PATRON
Her Excellency The Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC Governor of New South Wales
PRESIDENT
Colonel Alexander Dangar (Ret’d)
CHAIR
Mr David Turner
VICE CHAIR
Ms Kathy Merrick
HONORARY TREASURER
Mr Chris Honey
HONORARY SECRETARY AND PUBLIC OFFICER
Mr James Smith AFSM
HONORARY MEDIA OFFICER
Mr Andrew Parsons
COUNCILLORS
The Honourable Michael Pembroke KC
Dr Barry Catchlove AM
Colonel John Hutcheson AM (Ret’d)
Ms Kim Anderson
Mr Peter Stathis AFSM
Mr Mitchell Parker JP
Commissioner Mal Lanyon APM, NSW Police Force
Represented by Assistant Commissioner Scott Whyte APM
Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell AFSM, Fire and Rescue NSW
Represented by Mr Michael Baldi
Commissioner Dr Dominic Morgan ASM, Ambulance Service of NSW
Represented by Assistant Commissioner Peter Elliott ASM
Commissioner Trent Curtin, Rural Fire Service of NSW
Represented by Deputy Commissioner Kyle Stewart APM
Commissioner Mike Wassing, NSW State Emergency Service
Represented by Assistant Commissioner Sean Kearns ESM
ASSISTANT SECRETARY
Ms Sandra Kyriakopoulos
REGIONAL AMBASSADORS
Ms Michelle de Friskbom
Mr Mark Elm
Mr Eamonn Purcell
LIFE GOVERNORS
Ms Beatrice Gray
LIFE MEMBERS
Major Roland Millbank MA MPhil JD (Ret’d)
Mr Robert May APM
Members of the Society’s Council for 2024-2025 at Government House, Sydney.
Mr David Turner, Chair; Dr. Barry Catchlove AM; Mr Michael Baldi; Ms. Kathy Merrick, Vice Chair; Ms Michelle de Friskbom, Ambassador; Mr Chris Honey, Hon. Treasurer; Ms Sandra Kyriakopoulos, Assistant Secretary; Mr James Smith AFSM, Hon. Secretary and Public Officer; Ms Kim Anderson; Col. Alexander Dangar (Retd.), President; Mr Peter Stathis, AFSM; Mr Mitchell Parker JP, Ambassador Lead
HISTORY
The Royal Humane Society of New South Wales was founded on 25 July 1887 as the National Shipwreck Relief Society to provide financial relief for widows and orphans of mariners who had perished at sea, and to honour the bravery of courageous people who risked their lives to save others in dangerous situations.
In 1902 His Majesty King Edward VII gave approval for the Society to be known as the Royal Shipwreck Relief and Humane Society of NSW.
In 1968 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II approved the change of name to the Royal Humane Society of NSW in common with all Commonwealth Nations. The Society was incorporated on 26 February 2010.
OBJECTIVE
The Society recognises acts of public bravery by bestowing awards on those who risk their lives in saving, or attempting to save, others in dangerous circumstances.
Since its inception, the Society has conferred over 6,200 bravery awards, comprising the Galleghan Award, Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal, Certificate of Merit, Letter of Commendation, Team Award and the Sir Neville Pixley Award.
HOW THE SOCIETY FUNCTIONS
The management of the Society is vested in its Council, which meets quarterly on the first Monday of March, June, September and December. The Society’s Annual General Meeting is also held in December. An Executive Committee meets quarterly to manage day-to-day operations.
Cases of bravery are submitted by civilians and the NSW state emergency services. The details of each case are verified and presented by the Executive to Council for determination of awards.
KINDRED SOCIETIES
The Society has warm relationships with kindred Societies in other Commonwealth countries.
THE GALLEGHAN AWARD
The Galleghan Award was instituted in 1996 and recognises the most outstanding acts of bravery in the year. The recipient of the Galleghan Award is nominated by the Society for consideration to receive the Stanhope Gold Medal, the highest award for bravery in the British Commonwealth.
GOLD MEDAL
SILVER MEDAL
BRONZE MEDAL
CERTIFICATE OF MERIT
Certificates of Merit are awarded with all medal awards or are awarded individually.
SIR NEVILLE PIXLEY AWARD
The Sir Neville Pixley Award is a special award for young people who have performed humane acts.
TEAM AWARD
Team Awards are conferred on groups who provide essential communication, logistical, support and coordination services to frontline rescuers in major events.
LETTER OF COMMENDATION
The Stanhope Medal is an award made under the charter of the Royal Humane Society (England). It was instituted in 1873 as the United Kingdom Society’s highest award for bravery each year. Since 1962, all kindred Commonwealth Societies are invited each year to nominate their most outstanding cases for adjudication for the award.
Recipients of Royal Humane Society of NSW awards have been awarded the Stanhope Medal on 14 occasions.
2024-25 IN REVIEW
The Society had another successful year, with 2 investitures and the presentation of 100 awards by our Patron, Her Excellency the Governor of NSW, the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC.
The Society’s financial position is sound thanks to the oversight of our Honorary Treasurer, Mr. Chris Honey. We were favoured with private and institutional donations during the year and managed a small surplus despite the additional costs of a second investiture in rural NSW.
We instituted 2 new awards, a Team Award and a Community Resilience Award, as described below. We are improving our response time to requests for replacement medals, certificates and citations by having had our archive of Annual Reports scanned electronically.
Preparations are under way for our Sesquicentenary celebrations in 2027.
Council meetings are constructive and enthusiastically attended. Our Regional Ambassadors are establishing valuable networks throughout rural NSW, and our office is run most efficiently by our Honorary Secretary and Public Officer, Mr James Smith and Ms Sandra Kyriakopoulos, the Assistant Secretary.
We look forward to another good year in 2025-26. At the time of writing in January 2026, we have already received a significant number of bravery nominations for our November investiture.
2025 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The AGM was held on Monday 1 December 2024. The Councillors and Office Bearers of the 2024 Council were elected for a further period of twelve months.
2025 INVESTITURES
The citations and photographs of the March and November investitures, plus the live stream of the November investiture, are available:
A special investiture was held in Eugowra on 20 March to present awards for the brave actions of 47 residents and emergency services personnel in the disastrous flash flood that swept through the town on 14 November 2022.
The Society presented a further 53 awards at its investiture at Government House, Sydney, on 20 November 2025. Of these, a further 13 awards were for rescues in the Eugowra flood.
NEW AWARDS
Team Award
The Society has presented awards to groups of rescuers in the past, but this year a formal Team Award was instituted. The inaugural recipients were Eugowra SES members who coordinated the flood rescue communications, manned the emergency rescue centre, and cared for injured townsfolk in the flash flood of 14 November 2022. It was presented by Her Excellency the Governor at the Eugowra Investiture in March.
Community Resilience Award
The second was a Community Resilience Award to the citizens of Eugowra in honour of their collective heroism in the flood and for rebuilding their town. It was presented by Her Excellency the Governor at the Sydney Investiture in November and accepted by the Mayor of Cabonne Council, Councillor Kevin Beatty.
NEW INITIATIVES IN 2024
Digitising the Society’s Archive
The Society’s 3,500-page archive of annual reports dating from 1878 was scanned in searchable PDF format. The Society began life as the National Shipwreck Relief Society of NSW, and the archive contains valuable information about Australia’s early merchant maritime industry. A copy was donated to the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Finding images of past award recipients
Images of past award recipients were sourced from The National Library of Australia’s digitised TROVE database of Australia’s daily newspapers. 90 images were found, plus citations for awards conferred in years where annual reports were missing from the archive.
This is one example. Mrs Anita Hammond received a Silver Medal in 1898 for her bravery in saving lives following the wreck of the paddle steamer Maitland at the entrance of the Hawkesbury River, pictured here with her daughter Daisy, who was aged 1 at the time of the shipwreck. Her citation is as it appeared in the 1898 Annual Report.
THE SOCIETY’S SESQUICENTENARY IN 2027
Several projects are being planned for this important milestone and will be announced in 2026.
APPRECIATION
The Society is most grateful for the continuing Vice-Regal patronage of Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales. We are also grateful for the assistance of Her Excellency’s Official Secretary Colonel Michael Miller RFD (Retd.) and Her Excellency’s office in facilitating our investitures.
We thank Fire and Rescue NSW for its support over many years and for the office space and communication facilities provided in the City Fire Station in Castlereagh St, Sydney.
We are most grateful for the financial assistance provided through private donations, including major donations from Mr. David Turner, the NSW Fire Brigades Employees Relief and Welfare Fund, the NSW Police Commissioner, and the Police Association of NSW.
The Society gratefully acknowledges the contribution of our partners:
And my thanks to the Society’s Councillors and Ambassadors for their energy and support in making 2025 another successful year.
Cr. David Turner
CHAIR
The children of St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School perform The Hardest Day
The Society depends on the goodwill and assistance of many.
We are extremely grateful for the Vice-Regal patronage accorded by Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales.
Our annual investiture is facilitated by the Office of the Governor and Her Excellency’s Official Secretary, Colonel Michael Miller LVO RFD, who provides outstanding support and assistance for this Vice-Regal occasion.
Fire and Rescue NSW provides the Society with our office and meeting room in the City of Sydney Fire Station.
The NSW Police Force, Fire and Rescue NSW and Ambulance Service of NSW, State Emergency Service and Rural Fire Service are major contributors to the investigation and reporting of cases presented to the Council.
We are most grateful for the financial assistance provided through private donations, including major donations from Mr. David Turner, the NSW Fire Brigades Employees Relief and Welfare Fund, the NSW Police Commissioner, and the Police Association of NSW.
Photographs of the investiture are provided by Salty Dingo Photography.
