The Department of External Affairs was restructured in 1944/45 to take account of its increasing responsibilities and the expansion of overseas diplomatic representation that had started during World War II.

It had formerly comprised two sections:
* an International Cooperation Section, with responsibility for international organisations (League of Nations, ILO, Permanent Court of Justice); legal and constitutional matters, including treaties and agreements; international conferences; and consular matters
* a Political Section, dealing with foreign relations and geographic areas.

In 1944, the Political Section was separated into three Divisions dealing with, respectively, Pacific Affairs (in March); Intelligence and Information (in June); Europe and the Middle East (in November).  In December, the Economic Relations Division was formed [1].  In July, the Post-War Reconstruction Section was converted into the Post Hostilities Division, to deal with questions relating to the Armistice and Peace settlements.  The Political Warfare Division (CA 8344), located since 1941 in Melbourne, was merged in April with the Intelligence and Information Division to form a Political Intelligence and Information Division.  An Administrative Division under J K Waller was established in early 1945.

External Affairs was responsible for all relations with overseas governments, including inter-imperial relations; the protection of Australian interests and Australian nationals abroad; all questions relating to treaties and international agreements and international questions affecting policy in respect of trusteeship and mandates, nationality, the status of aliens, immigration, emigration, and economic relations.  It carried responsibility for all Australian permanent missions abroad, except the High Commissioner in London, and all foreign diplomatic missions and consulates within Australia, including representatives of other Dominions.

All communications between Australia and overseas governments were channelled through External Affairs, as were all matters dealt with between other Australian departments and diplomatic missions in Australia and overseas, except the High Commissioner in London.  By 1945, there were Australian diplomatic missions or representatives in Canada, the United States, China, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, New Zealand, India, France, Japan, Singapore, Berlin, and the Netherlands East Indies.  Consulates had been established in New York and New Caledonia.

A large part of the Department's work was devoted to international conferences and Australian policy towards the increasing number of international organisations [2].  At that stage, Australia was represented on all major United Nations bodies and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organisation, the United Nations Was Crimes Commission, the International Military Tribunal, the UN Committee on Refugees, the International Emergency Food Council, the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency, the Far Eastern Commission, and the Allied Council on Japan [3].

Correspondence and dispatches were received and distributed by the Library, which listed incoming letters, dealt with routine queries and kept runs of information material, such as Foreign Office prints.  Each Division had a clerk who made up and maintained its files, which were distinguished by a letter prefix.  Only after all action was completed were files transferred to the Registry for indexing.

When registering the main External Affairs records system for 1945-1947, the Archives decided to treat it as three separate series, but could as easily have classed it as a single series or a number of separate series 1945-1947, each with a different alphabetical prefix, as the numbers begin at 1 under most of the separate alphabetic categories.

The files were controlled by the Divisions and bear an alphabetic prefix indicating either the Division (A for Americas, ER for Economic Relations, IC for International Cooperation, P for Pacific Affairs and PI for Political Intelligence) or the functional class (E for Europe, ME for Middle East, S and X for Staffing, O for Organisation, Z for New Zealand, H for Post Hostilities, etc)

As with the previous multiple number series, A989, it was fairly common to keep a file current into the next year, amending its year date from 1945 to 1945-46.  It is likely that the attempted separation of years was influenced by the practice of the British Foreign Office, which starts new files every year.

THE MULTIPLE NUMBER SYSTEM

The system used is a common multiple number system, where subject classifications are denoted by numbers. The first element in the file number is the letter showing which area, structural or functional, the item belongs to.  The index to the file list for A1066 (CRS A2608, Vol 1) shows divisional and functional prefixes.  Those elements in italics have been added.

Administrative Division
FinanceF
EstablishmentO
StaffX
Staff, generalS
TravelT
Americas DivisionA
Economic Relations DivisionER
European and Middle East Division
EuropeE
Middle EastME
General (including Migration)G
International Co-operation DivisionIC
(Antarctica to Whaling)
Library, Archives and Information
CorrespondenceC
NewsN
New ZealandZ
Pacific Affairs DivisionP
TelecommunicationsY
Post Hostilities DivisionH
Political Intelligence DivisionPI

The second element is the year date and the third is a number standing for a major subject or primary heading, such as a particular country, region, international organisation of function.  As noted above, numbers under most of the alphabetical categories start at 1.

The fourth element may indicate how many files have been raised on that subject or function, but may also be a subdivision of the primary heading.  For example, ER45/2 means a file raised in 1945 by the Economic Relations Division on the United Nations, while ER45/2/2 means that the files deals with the Food and Agriculture Organisation.  Depending on the hierarchical structure of the subject matter, there may be a fourth, fifth or even sixth element.

Files were brought up from the earlier series A981 and A989 and many were top-numbered into the 1948 series, CRS A1838.  A complete inventory to the series was compiled by the Arrangement and Description Section of Australian Archives in 1989.  All items in this series in the custody of the Archives as at October 1997 have been entered onto the item level database.
        
SOURCES

1. CRS A1066, item O
2. ibid p 485
3. ibid pp483-484