[2][3][4] The Southern Cross Medal of 1952, post-nominal letters SM, was instituted by Queen Elizabeth II on 6 April 1952, during the Tercentenary Van Riebeeck Festival.

[5] The Southern Cross Medal could be awarded to members of the South African Defence Force for outstanding devotion to duty.

[7][8][9] The position of the Southern Cross Medal of 1952 in the official order of precedence was revised three times after 1975, to accommodate the inclusion or institution of new decorations and medals, first upon the integration into the South African National Defence Force on 27 April 1994, again in April 1996, when decorations and medals were belatedly instituted for the two former non-statutory forces, the Azanian People's Liberation Army and Umkhonto we Sizwe, and finally upon the institution of a new set of awards on 27 April 2003, but it remained unchanged on all three occasions.

Specimens which were struck before South Africa became a republic in 1961, have Queen Elizabeth's royal cypher (E II R) above the coat of arms.

Conferment of the decoration was discontinued in respect of services performed on or after 1 July 1975, when the Southern Cross Medal (1975) was instituted to replace it.