Men who risked their lives to save others met with King Charles and Queen Camilla during Their Majesties’ visit to Canberra.
Allan Sparkes CV (Cross of Valour) OAM, Tim Britten CV and Keith Payne VC AM, spoke exclusively to CD about being involved in the 2024 royal tour to Australia and their past encounters with the royal family.
Mr Sparkes said it was rare for all five CV recipients – who attended Their Majesties Parliamentary Reception hosted by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his fiancée, Jodie Haydon on Monday – to be in the one place.
The CV is awarded for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme peril. It is the highest Australian Bravery Decoration. It has only been awarded five times since 1975. It replaced the George Cross (a British honour) for Australians.
The remaining three CV recipients who travelled to Canberra on October 21 were Darrell Tree, Victor Boscoe and Richard Joyes.
Mr Sparkes said it was a great honour to meet with King Charles and Queen Camilla.
“Being invited to events like this can help raise the profile (of the CV),” he said.
“The whole idea of these honours is to inspire people to be brave.
“Any Australian is entitled to receive an Australian bravery award.”
Mr Sparkes is a former NSW Police Service senior investigator and former deputy commissioner for the Mental Health Commission of NSW.
He was awarded the CV in September 1998 for his role in the rescue of a small boy who was swept 600 metres down a flooded stormwater pipe in Coffs Harbour in 1996.
While Mr Sparkes had never previously met any of the royals, he was invited to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral at Westminster Abbey in September 2022.
“It was sad to see the family in their state of respectful distress. Again, it was such an honour to be there, and the reality is, the CV doesn’t get the recognition it should,” he said.
“I don’t think too many Australians actually know what a CV is.
“In reality, it’s Australia’s highest civil honour, yet so few Australians know what it is.”
Mr Britten, a Western Australian policeman, received his CV for placing his life in danger by repeatedly entering the burning Sari Club in Indonesia to rescue a seriously injured woman and to search for survivors, following the 12 October 2002 Bali bombing.
He said he was also honoured to be involved in the Canberra visit.
“I pretty much echo what Al said,” Mr Britten said.
He previously met Charles when the WA premier hosted a 67th birthday event for the then prince in 2015.
Mr Payne, who has a medal of a different kind, the Victoria Cross, is a longtime friend of the royals, having met Queen Elizabeth II more than 20 times.
The Victoria Cross for Australia is the pre-eminent award for acts of bravery in wartime and Australia’s highest military honour.
Mr Payne received the honour in 1970 for rescuing 40 of his soldiers one night in 1969, in the dark jungle and under heavy enemy fire, during the Vietnam War. He was the fourth and final Australian to be awarded the medal for the Vietnam War.
He said it was good to see Charles in their first meeting since he became the King.
“It’s great for him to be back in Australia to ‘say hello’ on his way to the special meeting (the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa),” Mr Payne said.
Mr Payne was accompanied by his wife Flo Payne OAM, who was also personally invited to Parliament House.
Mr Payne said his last official meeting with Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace happened a few years before she died.
He said the Queen, who was a patron of the VC and GC Association, gave special invites to medal recipients to attend Buckingham Palace’s drawing room.
“On this occasion, it was me and another chap, and the other chap was introduced to the Queen, and he hadn’t met her before,” Mr Payne said.
“He was going to introduce me, and the Queen turned to him and said ‘Oh Mr Payne and I need no introduction, we’re old friends’.”
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