Series number

AWM33

Series title

New Guinea campaign records, 1914-18 War

Series contents range

18 July 1903 – 19 June 1926

Extent

0.7m

Access conditions

Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial Agency

Australian War Memorial

Function and Provenance

On the outbreak of war in 1914, the British Admiralty was concerned about the presence of German Imperial Navy radio stations and German civilian colonies in the western Pacific and New Guinea, as these could potentially supply information on shipping movements and support German merchant raiders. The Admiralty therefore requested that Australia take urgent action to remove these threats. The Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was quickly raised, with a mix of Naval Reservists and an Infantry Battalion, supported by Australian and French cruisers. The force reached Rabaul on 11 September 1914, quickly seizing the town.

There was a brief battle for control of the radio station at Bita Paka (south of Rabaul) resulting in casualties to both sides but its seizure and the overwhelming show of force caused the German Governor to agree to negotiate and formal terms of capitulation were signed on 17 September. Over the next two months, AN&MEF troops occupied all the German possessions in the region. New Zealand mounted a concurrent operation to seize the German radio station and base in Samoa.

The commander of AN&MEF (Colonel William Holmes) was appointed military administrator. He was subsequently replaced by Colonel SA Pethebridge in January 1915. The area remained under military occupation until April 1921 when Australia was granted a mandate by the League of Nations to administer the colonies.

Content

Series AWM33 is a collection of records and personal papers relating to the military operations of the AN&MEF and the occupation of German New Guinea during 1914-1921, and to the writing of the history of the campaign. The Official History of Australia during the War of 1914-18: Volume X, The Australians at Rabaul” by Seaforth Simpson McKenzie was published in 1927.

While it is a composite of private donations and officially transferred records accessioned by the Memorial between 1928 and 1965, the bulk of the series consists of Department of Defence records transferred through the Official Historian.

The records now assembled within Series AWM33 were initially housed together as "New Guinea campaign records" with the series also originally known as the "Holmes Collection" after the first commander of the AN&MEF. It is arranged into sub-groups based on type of record and the provenance of each of the accessions.

• Items [1]-[8]. The Holmes Collection. This group consists of the diary of Colonel Holmes and other personal records donated by the Holmes' family in 1963.
• Items [9]-[12/19]. Reports and Dispatches – Holmes and Pethebridge. As with "Reports miscellaneous 1914-1918" and "Reports miscellaneous 1919-1922" below, this group contains reports and memoranda from the various Administrators of German New Guinea to the Department of Defence. All three groups of records were transferred to the War Memorial through the Official Historian, with the delineation of the Holmes and Pethebridge material from the other dated groups being a reflection of the unique role of those two officers in the early stages of the Administration.
• Items [13]-[40]. Reports Miscellaneous. Most of the items in this group are "miscellaneous" and administrative in nature, and were donated between 1956 and 1964 by individuals who served in the AN&MEF.
• Items [41]-[44]. Telegrams 1914-1916. A collection of telegrams and signals passed between the Commander AN&MEF (and later the Administrator) and Australian government authorities. The messages in 1914 provide a detailed insight into planning and conduct of the operation, with frequent situation reports. Later messages are more routine, with a focus on administration (eg medical, personnel, trade and management of local population). Also included are Department of Defence summaries of progress of the war in other theatres for the information of the isolated forces in New Guinea.
• Items [45/1]-[46/6]. Telegrams 1917-1919. As above, this is a collection of telegrams and signals, primarily of an administrative nature passed between the Administrator and Australian government authorities.
• Items [47/1]-[52]. Telegrams 1919-1923. As above, but now including discussion of the future administration of the colonies and the nature of the proposed League of Nations Mandate.
• Items [53]-[55/6]. Reports Miscellaneous 1914-1918. See Items [9]-[12/19] above.
• Items [56/1]-[59]. Reports Miscellaneous 1919-1922. See Items [9]-[12/19] above.
• Items [60/A1]-[60/G2]. Army Archival Collection. So-called because this collection of captured official German mail was accessioned from the Army Archival Section in 1965. It was only processed in 1991. It appears that German civilians or temporarily retained officials were employed by the AN&MEF to identify useful items of captured mail and to provide a brief description in English. The items are accompanied by slips of paper, annotated with a brief, typed abstract of contents and the signature of the translator. The translators' abstracts, although varying in reliability, have been used as item titles in the inventory.
• Items [61]-[66/10]. Source Records of the Official History, Vol X. This title is somewhat misleading, as Mackenzie used all of the records transferred through the Official Historian and the Department of Defence as source records for Volume X. Items [66/1]-[66/10] are just some of the material used and appears to be primarily notes, correspondence, reports etc which he personally retained and grouped by subject (eg [64] focuses on operations, [65] on medical etc). The collection.was provided to the War Memorial by Mackenzie in 1940.

System of Arrangement and Control

The original classification arrangement was retained during an access examination in 1973-75, but sub-groups were broken down into discrete items and listed by title. An artificial dual numbering system was subsequently imposed at item level during a second review in 1981. The series underwent final re-arrangement and description work in early 1991, and approximately 50 per cent of items were split into smaller physical parts to reduce their size and enhance their accessibility. The series now consists of 234 discrete physical items ([1]-[66/10]).

The only variation to this structure is Item 60 which still reflects the alpha-numeric sequence as originally written on each translation slip, with this numbering system retained after the imposed number [60], ie, [60]A1 – [60]G2. Gaps in the numbering system of this item indicate the earlier presence of items now missing from that part of the collection.

Using the Series

The entire series has an access status of "OPEN". Records are available to be viewed in the Reading Room at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra and more information can be found at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/research-at-the-memorial

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

AWM33 Series Dossier

The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18: Volume X, “The Australians at Rabaul”, by S S McKenzie (published 1927)