DLSM Rosettes and Federation Stars: Checking the Devices in Your Rack

You have checked that the Defence Long Service Medal belongs in your group. Now comes a smaller but important question: should you order another clasp, a round rosette or a Federation Star?

The answer depends on both your confirmed award and the format you are preparing. The Defence Long Service Medal, or DLSM, recognises 15 years of qualifying service. Further five-year periods may be recognised with clasps. Those clasps are represented differently when the ribbon is worn without the medal.^[1][2]

This guide helps you turn that information into clear mounting instructions. It is a device-checking guide, not a way to determine your own entitlement from a calendar.

Start with the exact medal name and confirmed clasp count

Check your award record or Defence correspondence for the full medal name and the number of clasps awarded. Keep the source and date beside your notes. A photograph of an older set is useful for comparison, but do not assume it includes your latest recognition.

A clasp count is not simply the number of years since you joined. Defence's qualifying-service determination sets annual service requirements, with different provisions for particular service categories and periods. Ask Defence to resolve any uncertainty rather than treating every calendar year as automatically qualifying.^[4]

Also distinguish the DLSM from the earlier Defence Force Service Medal. Copy the exact award name into the order, rather than writing only "long service medal". For background on the DLSM itself, use Rack Builder's medal library entry.^[10]

Match each confirmed clasp to its ribbon-bar representation

For the DLSM ribbon worn alone, the first four clasps are represented by round rosettes. At the fifth clasp, one Federation Star replaces those rosettes. Further clasps are represented by additional Federation Stars.^[2]

The years below show the progression from the initial 15-year award, with five years for each clasp. They are qualifying-service milestones, not an automatic entitlement calculator.^[1][3]

Read the medal and ribbon-bar columns separately. For example, the sixth clasp is represented by two stars, not a star and a rosette. Do not carry a pattern across from a different medal.^[2]

Keep clasps on the medal when the ribbon bar changes to a star

The Federation Star does not replace the clasps on the ribbon that suspends the medal. Defence's Long Service Awards factsheet explicitly distinguishes the two: the medal ribbon keeps its appropriate clasps, while the ribbon worn alone uses the relevant emblems.^[3]

This is why "add a Federation Star to my medals" is an incomplete instruction. Name the format you mean. Ask for the medal's clasp arrangement and the separate ribbon-bar update to be checked as two parts of the same job.

Check miniature medals separately from ribbon bars

A miniature medal is not a ribbon bar. Medals of Australia's DLSM product description specifies clasps above both full-size and miniature medals, with rosettes or Federation Stars used on the ribbon bar.^[5]

List each format you need on its own line, including quantities. Your full-size set, miniature set and ribbon bar should represent the same confirmed award, even though their attachments look different.

Do not assume updating one set also updates the others. Tell the team which existing pieces need work, which new items you are ordering, and which are staying unchanged. Ask them to confirm the matching components before production.

Check the Royal Cypher against the relevant service dates

The Royal Cypher is the monarch's identifying design on the clasp. Defence specifies the Queen Elizabeth Cypher for service up to and including 5 May 2023, and the King Charles Cypher for service on or after 6 May 2023.^[2]

Do not choose a design simply because you are ordering today. Include photographs of existing clasps and the relevant award information. Where the recognised period crosses that date, or the paperwork is unclear, ask Defence which design applies before asking the mounter to supply it.

This fifth-clasp example separates the award from the attachments

Imagine a veteran whose official record confirms the DLSM and its fifth clasp. Their older ribbon bar still shows four rosettes. They also want their full-size and miniature sets brought up to date. This is a hypothetical example, not an assessment of any person's service.

The required end state is a DLSM with five clasps in each medal format, and one Federation Star with no rosettes on the ribbon bar. The star is not an additional medal to insert elsewhere in the group.^[3][5]

Before requesting parts, check what is already fitted. An instruction to supply "five new clasps" could be wrong if four suitable clasps are already there. Record the total required and ask the team to confirm what must be added, replaced or retained.

Use this device-check note to explain your order

Adapt this suggested worksheet to your own confirmed award. It is not an official Defence form or a mandatory Rack Builder form.

• Award and confirmed clasp count: [exact name and total]
• Evidence checked: [record or correspondence, with date]
• Full-size set: [existing clasps; required final total; work requested]
• Miniature set: [existing clasps; required final total; work requested]
• Ribbon bar: [current devices; required final devices]
• Cypher or other unresolved detail: [question and authority contacted]
• Order or saved-rack reference: [reference, if available]

Add clear photographs showing each format and its existing attachments. Mark anything unresolved as "awaiting confirmation", rather than filling the gap with a guess. Keep a copy of the completed note so you can compare it with the finished order.

Ask Defence to resolve missing or disputed clasp recognition

Defence's awards application process includes Defence long-service awards and clasps. It also provides a full-assessment option for members, former members and families seeking a list of entitled awards.^[6]

Describe the gap precisely: for example, your record lists three clasps, but you believe a later period has not been recognised. Ask for confirmation of the clasp count and any outstanding assessment. A commercial purchase does not settle that question.

Keep the full group's order of wear as a separate check. Defence directs recipients to the Australian Order of Wearing Honours and Awards; choosing a new device is not a substitute for checking the complete sequence.^[7]

Review every format in Rack Builder before ordering

Rack Builder's published process lets you add medals and clasps, compare formats and review the arrangement before ordering. Use your completed device-check note beside the preview, checking one format at a time.^[8]

If the required device or cypher is unclear, contact Rack Builder support with your question and saved-rack or order reference. Do not select the nearest-looking option simply to finish checkout.^[9]

Start with the confirmed award, then match the attachments to each format. That gives the mounting team a clear brief and helps you check that the finished pieces tell the same service story. Explore how Rack Builder works or contact the support team before ordering.^[8][9]