Summary heading

Function and purpose

This series consists of four large volumes with metal and fabric covers, fixed by two-post metal bindings (with screw-caps allowing easy removal of the contents.)   The contents of all four volumes are uniformly formatted records of service of officers (including Warrant Officers) of the Royal Australian Navy from the inception of the RAN  to the end of 1931.

It seems likely that these records were created and used by a functional area of the Navy office in Department of Defence which dealt primarily with Performance Assessment (or some aspect of the officers career which flowed from his level of performance achieved.  While there is much detail about the officers career, such as appointments, promotions and postings to ships and shore establishments, this information replicates the same data that is kept elsewhere – such as series A6769 and A6770.  What is distinctive about this group of record is the recording of succinct summaries of the Commanding officers reports (forms S206) as described below – which was done presumably to facilitate quick reference

The series consists of three sets:  
Set 1 (one volume)  contains records of current Warrant Officers and Commissioned Warrant Officers (that is, current in 1931 when this series was discontinued) ;
Set 2 (one volume)  contains records of current Officers; and
Set 3 (two volumes)  contains records of discharged Officers (including Warrant officers)

The first two volumes, (that is, Set 1 and Set 2) containing the records relating to currently commissioned officers (in 1931) are divided into various categories of specialization (indicated by stiff dividers within the volumes, with protruding tabs) and the records for each officer are arranged alphabetically by the officers surname within the categories – that is, there is a discrete alphabetical sequence within each category. 

The first volume (item 1/1)  labelled ‘Commissioned Warrant and Warrant Officers’ contains the following categories and range of entries  (Ranks are shown in some cases to illustrate what the categorizations are):
Chief Gunners and Gunners :  CHARD Franck (Gunner ‘T’) to SCRATTON David Victor

Chief Boatswains and Boatswains :  BOOTH Reginald Selwyn (Signal Boatswain) to WILLIAMS Joseph Walton (Commissioned Boatswain)

Engineer :  CALDER William Charles (Acting Mate (E)) to WEINBURG William (Warrant Engineer)

Miscellaneous :  BOXALL Henry John Percy (Warrant Telegraphist) to VENUS Thomas Rupert (Warrant Ordnance Officer)

[Tab Missing] :  BAKER Robert Alexander to WILLET Frank Percival [this entry is followed by two more which are alphabetically out of order – entries for KENDALL Roy and DE REDDER Harry]  Most the entries in this category have rank of ‘Commissioned Instructor’ or ‘Commander Auxiliary Services’

The second volume (item 2/1)  labelled ‘Commissioned Officers’ contains the following:

Military :  ADAMS John McLauchlan (out of order) to WRIGHT Harley Chamberlain
Engineer :  ARNOTT Oswald Thomas to WISHART John Webster

Medical : AUSTIN Donald McLellan (Surgeon Commander) to WOOLCOTT Alfred Richard (Surgeon Lt Cdr)

Accountant :  BLACKLOCK Charles Herbert (Paymaster Lieutenant) to WHITE Alexander John (Paymaster Lt Cdr)

Miscellaneous :  HARDIE  Andrew Oswald (Chaplain) to TULLOH Alexander (Chaplain)

The third and fourth volumes (items 3/1 and 3/2)  labelled ‘Discharged Officers.’  are arranged in one alphabetical sequence by officer’s surname throughout, regardless of specialization category

Item 3/1 contains records for ABBOTT John to HYSLOP James Murray

Item 3/2 contains records for  INCE Frederick George (Record of Service only - appears first page is missing) to YOUNG Robert Travers

The records for each person within all these various sequences in the four volumes are of remarkably uniform format.   For each person there is at least one page.  The page is in three parts – Parts one and two are on the front and the third part is on the back   

The first part identifies the officer and records his career in terms of his promotions through the ranks and achievement of specialized qualifications.  At the top of the page there is provision for the following data:

Name;

Date of Birth

Where Born

[Other identification  ‘fields’ that appear on some forms are ‘Particulars of Marriage’ and ‘Home Port’.  For many records that don’t have a ‘Particulars of Marriage’ field,  the marital status (just ‘married’ or ‘single’) is annotated  on top right hand corner]

And below that, in columns:

Rank,

Date of Seniority,

Subjects of Specialization etc,

Date Qualified

Remarks

The Second part which is headed ‘Miscellaneous Notations’ provides for the recording of particular events – highs and lows in the officers career – events such as awards or court martials.  The ‘fields’ are as  follows:

Reference to papers  

Date

‘Loggins, Courts Martial, etc in red ink. Other Notation (eg Medals etc) in black ink”

[The entries against ‘Reference to Papers’ are  file numbers of relevant correspondence files – an annual single number series (which is probably series B2882 (1911-1921) and a multiple number series which is B4883 or B4884 (‘201’Class 1923-1950) ]

The Third part is on the reverse of this page.  In this part the officers career in terms of his postings (to ships and shore establishments) are recorded in two columns, and in the third column a summary of the reports on his performance by commanding officers, etc.

The Officer’s name is repeated at the top then under the heading of ‘Record of Service’ there are columns as follows:

Ship

Period of Service (dates from and to);

Reports of Commanding Officers “(Confidential Reports, AS206, in red ink; other Certificates of Service, etc, in black ink)” 

The third part often extends to additional pages -  headed ‘Record of Service (Continuation)’ -  if the officer has a long period of service. 

Entries are made by hand, chronologically down the page under these headings.  But the entries in the first two columns (Ship and Period of Service) are independent of the entries in the third column – that is, they don’t line up)   

The entries under the ‘Record of Service’ heading (the third column in the third part of these forms) is a meticulous transcription of the text of reports by Commanding officers (form S206) which accumulate for each officer in a dossier in his name in series A3978.  Only the comments are entered – the key to the criteria (set out in Form 206) to which the comments relate can be found pasted in the front of item 1/1

Given that this record dates from the foundation of the RAN and at its foundation many Officers were transferred from the Royal Navy, it is not surprising that in many instances the entries in the first section (Rank, Date of Seniority etc) refer to service with the Royal Navy prior to joining the RAN and may be dated as early as 1899.  The entries in the Second part (under ‘Miscellaneous Notations’)  may include some relating to service with the RN (any Mentions in Despatches or other decorations etc) but the entries in the  Third part (under ‘Record of Service’ ) refer only to the officer’s service with the RAN (which came into being in 1911)  Note that the actual recording of information in these volumes did not begin before 1912.

Related legislation

Using the series

Language of material

Physical characteristics

System of arrangement and control

A two-number system of control has been imposed on the items of this series by NAA to reflect the existence of the three sets within the series.  The first component of the item number refers to the set number and the second part is the volume within the set

The entries in the volumes (that is, the record for each officer) are arranged alphabetically - in the case of Sets 1 and 2, within categories of specialization.

Maintaining this alphabetical order, and moving records from the current officers volumes to the discharged officers volumes when an officer left the RAN, would have required constant dismantling of the volume covers and re-positioning of entries.  There is some evidence of mis-filing.

Relationships with other records

The informational content of these records replicates information in other contemporary series – suggesting that these records were used in a  geographically separate location.  The information regarding officers, appointments, and postings replicates the information in the Service Cards (series A6769 and A6770)  The information regarding Performance reports is transcribed from forms S206 in series A3978.  However this series has historic value in that it was instituted at the inception of the RAN and was discontinued in 1931 so that it is a discrete collection of data for personnel in the earliest period of the Navy’s existence   The other series mentioned have continued for many years and contain many thousands of records of world war 2 service and beyond.

It is not apparent why the recording of information in these series was discontinued in 1931 – but was probably due to internal reo-organization of functional areas within Navy Office.  No subsequent series have been identified.

Finding aids

There are no control records for this series. 

Access conditions

Series history

Provenance

Immediate source of acquisition

Custodial history

The four volumes that now constitute this series were among an accumulation of various Naval personnel records which were transferred to Archives custody by  Navy Department in Canberra on 30 May 1960 and accessioned as CT158.  These four volumes were accessioned as three Accession Series of this accession, as follows:

CT158/3 : Record Book of Appointments RAN  Discharged Officers (A-Z)

2 Bundles (1.5 running feet)  1903-1930

CT158/4: Record Book of Appointments RAN  Serving Officers (A-Z)

1Bundle (1.5 running feet) 1912-1931

CT158/5: Record Book of Appointments RAN  Serving Commissioned Warrant and Warrant Officers
1 Bundle (1.5 running feet)  1914-1931

These accessions were subsequently serialised as A8363 in 1990 

Quantity in agency custody

Disposal history

Publication note

Additional information

End notes

Sources