Function and purpose
This
collection contains files and other general and historical reference material,
considered to be of potential value to
researchers
and historians. It was accumulated, in the main, by Army Historical/ Archives officers
following the 1973 Army and Defence reorganisations.
This
reorganisation brought to light a considerable amount of material which their
original keepers no longer needed but were reluctant to destroy because of
their importance or historical nature. It is believed that the material forming
the first consignment was examined by Army Historical/Archives/Research
officers and arranged into originator or event based sets. At the same time
much duplicated material, as well as material not considered to be of potential
future value, was also culled and destroyed. Of the remainder, large
collections of generally World War II, Korea, Malay emergency and Vietnam
related records were transferred to the Australian War Memorial. Other
material, as well as smaller collections and records concerning some selected
war time/war service related events, etc were however retained for further
appraisal and arrangement. Most of these were eventually registered into
Commonwealth Record Series A6827 to A6847, A6913 to A6922 and A6924 to A6931.
All but the three Vietnam related series were transferred to Archives during
late 1986.
A hard
core of registers, files, folders and volumes remained which did not warrant
registration as separate series (more of this type of material is known to
exist in both unserialised accessions as well as in Army vaults) but which
needed some logical arrangement for control and retrieval purposes. This
material was consequently separated into two series; CRS A6923 for general
reference records and CRS A6932 for histories and history related records. The
first consignment of A6923 was arranged into sets and employed a two number
system in which the first number component denoted the set number and the
second number denoted the item number. The sets were identified as follows:
Set
1. Pre-Federation Records [one 1882
correspondence register was
noted as belonging to this set but
it was on loan to an AWM
researcher (J Grey) during the
survey and transfer period]
Set
2. Pre-World War I Period Records [none
sighted]
Set
3. World War I or World War I Related
Records
Set
4. Post World War I and Pre-World War
II (1919 - 1939) Records
Set
5. World War II or World War II Related
Records
Set
6. Korean War or Korean War Related Records
Set
7. Malay Emergency Related Records
Set
8. Vietnam War or Vietnam War Related
Records
Set
9. 'Namibia' Related Records
Set 10.
General Post World War II Records
Set 11.
`SEATO' or Seato Related Records
Set 12.
`ANZUK' or ANZUK Related Records.
Subsequent
records transferred to the National Archives of Australia did not adhere to
this two number system based on sets. A single number system was used instead.
It is
expected that most of the material in these sets will be eventually converted
into more appropriate specific series as more material and/or information come
to hand.
During
early 1988 records of this nature were identified at, and transfer procedure
initiated by, the Directorate of Military Intelligence. These records included:
Records
relating to the New Guard/Legion of Frontiersmen; 1931 - 1934.
Records
relating to the Military Reporting Officer's organisation; 1934 - 1947.
Statements/reports
of escaped Allied Prisoners of War; 1940 - 1945.
Administrative
records relating to PW Camps in Tasmania; 1939 - 1945 (?).
Propaganda
leaflets used by the Allies during World War II; 1939 - 1945.
Intelligence/operational
photographs and maps of the `Celebes' Region; 1943 - 1944.
Records
relating to operational intelligence activities during and after World War II;
1938 - 1956.
Records
relating to the Korean War; 1951 - 1953.
Records
relating to the Malay/Malaysian conflict(s); 1957 - 1968.
Intelligence
material of foreign countries; 1957 - 1975.
Records
relating to Australia's general warfare strategies and policies; 1940 - 1981.
Records
relating to SEATO and/or ANZUK organisations and activities; 1956 - 1975.
Intelligence
related records concerning the Vietnam conflict; 1960 - 1975.
System of arrangement and control
Originally a two number system was imposed by the National
Archives of Australia. This system proved to be clumbersome and later transfers
were controlled with a single number sequence.
Finding aids
All items using the two number system were entered onto the
National Archives of Australia in October 2001.