Rodney Lew Edwards joined the Queensland Police as Constable 6194 on 6 June 1986. He served at the following stations Woolloongabba; Chermside; Juvenile Aid Bureau (City) and Broadbeach and resigned on 30 November 1987.
The Star of Courage Citation reads:
At about 8.40 pm on 10 July 1986, Constable Rodney Edwards while on a meal break in the Boomerang Café on Main Street, Kangaroo Point, heard a loud crash and went to investigate. He discovered a collision involving three motor vehicles, one of these vehicles had overturned and was well alight.
Constable Edwards saw that the female driver of the burning vehicle had been dragged almost clear of the wreckage by two passers-by and that her body was on fire. Constable Edwards doused the flames with blankets then helped move the badly burnt women well clear of the accident scene. He learned that there was a child in the burning car and made several desperate attempts to free the child from its restraint harness.
Due to the intense heat and flames, Constable Edwards was forced away from the burning vehicle and could not save the trapped child. By his actions Constable Edwards displayed conspicuous courage.
Constable Edwards was awarded the Star of Courage at a ceremony held on March 16, 1988.
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The Star of Courage is awarded for acts of conspicuous courage in circumstances of great peril. It is the second highest Australian Bravery Decoration. Only four Queensland Police officers have been in receipt of the Star of Courage since the award was established in February 1975.
Australian Bravery Decorations date from the establishment of the Australian honours system in. The Group Bravery Citation was added in 1990.
The decorations recognise acts of bravery by members of the community. There are four levels of decoration:
- Cross of Valour (CV)
- Star of Courage (SC)
- Bravery Medal (BM)
- Commendation for Brave Conduct
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This information has been supplied by the Queensland Police Museum from the best resources available at the time of writing.
The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Contact: E: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM THE VAULT: Star of Courage: Constable Rodney Edwards” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode