Highest Commonwealth bravery award for Monash academic

16 August 2006

Dr Lee Gordon-Brown last week received the highest Commonwealth award for bravery.

Monash University lecturer Dr Lee Gordon-Brown has won the highest Commonwealth award for bravery.

Dr Gordon-Brown won the 2005 Stanhope Medal for disarming a student following the tragic shootings at the Clayton campus in October 2002.

The medal is awarded annually to recognise the most conspicuous act of gallantry considered by the Royal Humane Societies of Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand and the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society.

On 21 October 2002, Dr Gordon-Brown, while seriously wounded, disarmed a student who had killed two students and injured a further three.

The medal was last week presented to Dr Gordon-Brown by the Governor-General, Major General Michael Jeffery, at the Melbourne Town Hall.

Dr Gordon-Brown also won the Star of Courage and the 2005 Clarke Gold Medal of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia (RHSA) for the most outstanding act of bravery in that year. Student Mr Alastair Boast was awarded the Gold Medal of the RHSA for his actions on the day of the shootings.