The Defence Committee was established on 8 March 1929 under Defence Committee Regulations (updated in 1946). To about June 1957 it comprised the Chief of the Naval Staff, the Chief of the General Staff, the Chief of the Air Staff and an officer of the Secretariat of the Department of Defence appointed by the Minister. During the 1939-45 War the Committee's activities were closely linked with those of the Advisory War Council (CA 495) and the War Cabinet (CA 1468), and related mainly to:

     .  defence policy advice, and
     .  joint service co-ordination.
 
The present series reflects these activities, consisting of briefing material (mostly files and reports) "created and received for the period 1939 to 1957". This includes Defence Committee and Advisory War Council minutes and agenda, UK Dominions Office cables (eg political situation reports distributed by the Department of External Affairs and Prime Minister's Department, daily summaries of the military situation), press cuttings, press releases, HQ Allied Air Forces and HQ Allied Land Forces intelligence summaries, AMF weekly intelligence summaries, Chiefs of Staff weekly progress reports, weekly resumes of the naval, military and air situation, GHQ Southwest Pacific Area situation reports, Department of External Affairs digest of despatches, UK Foreign Office prints, various editions of the Army War Effort and Air War Effort, Australian Military Mission to Control Council (Germany) reports 1945-1947, US/Japan Joint Committee minutes of meetings 1952-1956, maps and plans of NSW defence areas in the 1950's, Department of Defence memoranda and working papers, etc. There is evidence (in item 141) that the series was used by the Official Historian in the mid 1950's.
 
Most file covers are those of the Department of Defence Co-ordination and the Department of Defence, originally stamped "Secret" or "Confidential". Some are also marked "Advisory War Council" and carry a related AWC or War Cabinet agenda number. Several files have been extracted (rather than explicitly top numbered) from CRS A816 (eg items 36, 142, 189, 420). Some further relationship with CRS A2723 (AWC "Distribution of Agenda" files) and CRS A5954 ("The Shedden Collection") is also suspected.  

The bulk of the series was transferred to the Australian War Memorial in 1983 (accession OW83/6), items initially being controlled by box number. Items 1066-1078 (excluded from the original transfer) and items 462-463, 465-466 have been intersorted from Accessions OW92/13 and OW83/11 respectively. The present single number system (1-1078) was imposed in 1992.
 
An extract from a Cabinet notebook (found in item 302) was returned to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in May 1992.
Quantity in agency custody
18.5metres held by CA 616, Australian War Memorial