Items medium note

Series number

AWM124

Series title

Naval historical collection

Series contents range

01 Jan 1788 - 31 Dec 2015

Extent

28m

Access conditions

Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial Agency

Australian War Memorial

Function and provenance

In 1943, the Royal Australian Navy established a Naval Historical Records Section (NHRS) within the Naval Intelligence Directorate at Navy Office, Melbourne. From 12 October 1943, this section began collecting material held by various bases and units, as well as establishing procedures for recording the collection.

The primary purpose of the NHRS was to gather material about the RAN during the Second World War for the official history. Another key task was identified as the gathering of relics for future inclusion in the Memorial’s collection. To this end, a small staff of five was established and subsequently expanded to cope with a growing stream of records and artefacts.

The NHRS – in various forms - kept working, gathering and storing material on contemporary activities such as Instructions to RAN ships on the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the relocation of the RAN College to Jervis Bay, as well as material predating WW2. In 1960 the NHRS moved from Navy Office in Melbourne to Canberra, and lost a lot of storage space – consequently the bulk of the historical collection was handed over to the Memorial in 1982 and 1983, with subsequent additions made in 2001. These included original files, research notes and historical drafts, printed items (books, manuals, etc), cards, photographs, microfilm, maps, charts and plans.

As time passes, more and more material is passed to the Memorial, where it is being progressively evaluated and either incorporated in the collection or passed to other institutions.

The function of the NHRS is now undertaken by the Sea Power Centre.

Content

AWM 124 started life as a miscellaneous and largely unarranged collection of naval records ranging in period from the nineteenth century to recent times. The series comprised original records and other material created and acquired by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and procured from ships, naval establishments and overseas. Copies of the records of the two Royal Commissions into the HMAS VOYAGER disaster and of various naval enquiries were also included in the original transfer of material.

After being passed to the Memorial, the artefacts were ‘accessioned’: sorted and evaluated against the criteria for including in the Memorial’s collection. After accessioning, two small groups of items were separately arranged and listed.

Parts of these accessions were subsequently transferred to AWM collections. The printed material went to the Printed Collection; the maps, charts and plans went into the Special Collections; and the photographs and microfilm went into the Photograph and Film Collections. Of the written records which were absorbed into the Official Records Collection, some were considered to constitute series in themselves and were separated out and serialized independently.

The new series were:

AWM 178 - Records of the Royal Commission into the loss of HMAS VOYAGER);

AWM 179 - Records of the Royal Commission into the statement of Lieutenant Commander Cabban;

AWM 180 - Naval Investigations and Enquiries;

AWM 185 - Records of the Royal Commission on Cockatoo Island Dockyard; and

AWM 186 - Records of the Royal Commission on Navy and Defence Administration.

Additionally, new series were created for research notes and drafts:

AWM 188 (Naval Historical Section research files); and

AWM 189 (Naval Historical Section duplicate research files).

The archival material which remained now forms AWM 124.

System of arrangement and control

When the collection was received by the AWM, it contained a large volume of unprocessed material. After accessioning, it became evident that the earlier listings were no longer relevant because they did not include the unprocessed material and because the collection had been largely integrated with other parts of the AWM collection. To enable the residual material to be easily presented, it was decided to create an artificial arrangement, which groups artefacts by broad period. Each item has been given a two number control within this arrangement, so that the first number (1/..., 2/..., etc.) represents the period of the record, as follows:

1/...Pre-First world War

2/...First World War

3/...Inter-War Period

4/...Second World War

5/...Post-Second World War

6/...Miscellaneous

The second number (.../1, .../2, etc.) is the individual item running number within the period groupings. Items have then been roughly arranged into broad subject categories under the following headings:

* administration/policy;

* shore establishments;

* vessels;

* convoys;

*operations/intelligence;

* mining;

* prisoners of war/casualties;

* foreign records;

* historical material.

Using the series

Each item in the series is recorded on the RecordSearch database which researchers can view on the internet. Further assistance in finding relevant information may be gained from related series of records (click on Series Links at the bottom of this page.)

Sources

AWM 124 Dossier

The Sea Power Centre: http://www.navy.gov.au/spc/