The new name honoured Sir William Birdwood, the Australian Imperial Force general who led the ANZACs at Gallipoli.
William Shakespeare | William Laud | William Blake | William | William III of England | William Morris | William McKinley | William Howard Taft | William Ewart Gladstone | William the Conqueror | William S. Burroughs | William Shatner | William Faulkner | William Randolph Hearst | William Wordsworth | William Tecumseh Sherman | Baron | William Hogarth | Prince William, Duke of Cambridge | William Penn | William Jennings Bryan | William Gibson | Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma | Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson | Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener | William Wilberforce | William James | William Makepeace Thackeray | Fort William | William Hanna |
The origins of the award are uncertain with John Monash, William Birdwood and John Gellibrand all being credited with the idea in various accounts.