In the Colonies and Boer Republics which became the Union of South Africa in 1910, several unofficial military decorations and medals were instituted and awarded during the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

A chain of blockhouses and other defensive positions had been prepared, and early in the siege the garrison succeeded in repulsing several determined attacks by the commando.

However, when the departure of Smuts with a British safe-conduct to the deliberations at Vereeniging heralded the end of the war, the siege became little more than a good-humoured blockade.

[4][5][6] On 1 May 1902, the commandos launched an attack on O'okiep, using the commandeered locomotive "Pioneer" of Concordia's Namaqua United Copper Company to propel a mobile bomb in the form of a wagon-load of dynamite into the besieged town.

The protective defences at O'okiep consisted of a barbed wire fence, which was erected across the railway line at Braakpits Junction, just north of the town.

The bulk were struck in bronze and were awarded to the rank and file of the military and civilian defenders of the town, most of whom were mine workers who had taken part in the defence of O'okiep.