Awarded to all Australian personnel who had seen 18 months overseas or 3 years home service. The medals were named to the recipients. In the case of Army personnel, their service numbers were prefixed by the initial of their state: N (New South Wales), Q (Queensland), S (South Australia), T (Tasmania), V (Victoria) and W (Western Australia). X prefix is for AIF (Australian Imperial Forces or Volunteer Overseas Service). In 1999 the time served for eligibility was reduced.

Approximately 178,000 were issued to Australians.