Australians anxious for VC to end up in their Hall of Valour

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is among those anxiously awaiting today's auction of a New Zealand-born soldier's Victoria Cross amid fears the medal might not find its rightful home.

The Victoria Cross posthumously awarded to Captain Alfred Shout, who died from wounds received at Gallipoli in 1915, is predicted to sell for as much as A$700,000 ($855,000) at Sydney auction house Bonhams and Goodman tonight.

That would break the world record for a medal at auction, £248,800 ($750,000) paid last year for the medal won by Captain Thomas Hardy at Lord Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in 1805.

Bidders from Britain and the United States have expressed interest in the auction of Australia's last privately owned Gallipoli VC, and could snap it up as an investment even though legislation prevents its export.

The other eight Gallipoli VCs are housed at the Australian War Memorial's Hall of Valour - the place Mr Howard wants to see the medal end up.

"The Prime Minister is taking a close and active interest in this matter," a spokesman told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The memorial's director, Major-General Steve Gower, said he would be "shocked" if the medal didn't remain in Australian hands.

"It is so important to the whole nation and is the only one needed to complete the Gallipoli set."

General Gower hoped a "public spirited Australian" might purchase the medal for the memorial, "where it belongs".

The medal is being auctioned by Captain Shout's Sydney-based grandson, Graham Thomas, who is in poor health and hoping to fund his grandchildren's education.

Captain Shout - born in Wellington in 1881 - served in the Boer War and moved to Sydney when he was 26.

He became the most highly decorated soldier in the Australian Army to serve at Gallipoli.

In 1915, he was awarded the Military Cross during the landing at Anzac Cove, and was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his role in the battle of Lone Pine, where he died from injuries days after the Australian charge on Turkish-held trenches there.

- NZPA