Australian honours system support, but Australian Labor Party (ALP) governments, both national and state, ceased making recommendations for Imperial awards – in particular, appointments to the Order of the British Empire mainly after 1972. During the Second World War, the Governor-General, on the advice of wartime Labor governments, made recommendations for gallantry awards, including eleven for the Victoria Cross. Appointments to the Order of the British Empire were for officers and men engaged in operational areas. In 1975, the ALP (which had been out of power federally from 1949 until 1972) created the Australian Honours System. Recommendations were processed centrally, but State Governors
South African honours system In 1952, to mark the 300th anniversary of European settlement, the South African government established its own honours system. It consisted of the existing civil, police, railways police and prisons medals, and a new series of military decorations. They were given precedence over British honours. The honours system was enlarged during the 1960s, after South African had become a republic. New decorations were instituted for the police in 1963, for the railways police in 1966, for sports stars in 1967, for the prisons service in 1968, and for civilians in 1970. Evidently the government was not satisfied, because during the