At the outbreak of World War II provision of military supplies was the responsibility of the Minister for Supply and Development [I]. However, the complexities resulting from sudden increases in demand for a huge range of goods led to the creation of a multitude of new agencies, each dealing with particular problems. The effect of this was to place strains on the administration of the Department.

Regulations made under the Supply and Development Act (Statutory Rule No 97/1939) in September 1939 established the following agencies: Principal Supply Officers Board (CA 163), Defence Supply Planning Committee (CA 334), Factory Board (CA 140), and Contract Board (CA 92). The Aircraft Production Commission (CA 249), was established in March 1940 under National Security (Aircraft Production Commission) Regulations (Statutory Rule 55/1940) and in connection with this last, Mr Essington Lewis (CP 111) was appointed Director-General of Munitions (including aircraft).

In an effort to speed up munitions production a separate Department of Munitions (CA 39) was created on 11 June 1940 by a meeting of the Federal Executive Council. (1)

The first Minister of Munitions was charged with the administration of:

 Part III of the Supply and Development Acts 1939;
 the National Security (Aircraft Production Commission) Regulations
 insofar as they relate to the manufacture or supply of munitions:

   (i) the Supply and Development (Administration) Regulations (other
       than Part 1 thereof)
  (ii) the Supply and Development (Factories) Regulations; and
 (iii) the Supply and Development (Staff) Regulations.

The Director-General of Munitions was given direction and control of:

 (a) The operation and management of factories, workshops and
     undertakings concerned in the production of munitions;
 (b) The acquisition by the Commonwealth and the establishment of
     factories and workshops for the purposes of producing munitions;
 (c) The securing of supplies of materials, plant, tools and
     equipment for that purpose;  and
 (d) The employment and training of technicians, workmen and others
     for that purpose. (2)

A notice published on 10 September 1940 declared that additional matters to be dealt with by the Department were as follows:

Matters relating to arrangements for ascertaining costs and for the control and limitation of profits in relation to the production of munitions. (3)
 
 "Munitions": is defined by the regulations as "armaments, arms,  
 ammunition, weapons, vehicles, machines, vessels or ships, and
 includes the materials necessary for the production of these things 
 and also things of whatsoever kind as the Minister by Order declares
 to be munitions, but does not include aircraft."
 
 Orders have been made declaring railway locomotives, rolling stock,
 rail-plant and equipment, radio transmitting and receiving
 apparatus, refrigerators, automotive spare parts, agricultural
 machinery, plant for processing food products and equipment for
 capping rubber tyres or for repairing rubber tubes to be munitions.

The Department of Supply and Development [I] (CA 33) was left with the responsibility for supply other than munitions (e.g. clothing and other personal equipment for the services, foodstuffs, stores of all kinds including export supply where goods are in short supply).(4) The management of all Commonwealth factories was transferred to the Department of Munitions, except the Commonwealth Clothing Factory which remained under the Department of Supply and Development [I].

At first liaison between the Munitions and the Supply and Development Departments was secured by giving each of these Departments the same minister and the same permanent head. The creation of the Department of Defence Co-ordination (CA 37) in November 1939 was thought to have removed the need for the special form of liaison between requirement and supply and production which had been provided by the Principal Supply Officers' Committee (CA 356). (5)

In July 1941, the Department of Munitions and the Department of Supply and Development [I] were placed under separate ministers and separate permanent heads, largely because of the increased volume of work being undertaken in both. At the same time a separate Department of Aircraft Production (CA 41) was created in place of the Aircraft Production Commission (CA 249). That agency had been established in March 1940 to replace the Aircraft Construction Branch set up in the Department of Supply and Development [I] in July 1939. The functions of the new department and its responsibilities were comparable with those of the Department of Munitions. Eventually, although the separation of the Departments each with its own minister and secretary was maintained, co-ordination of operations was secured from January 1942 onwards, by making the Director-General of Munitions also Director-General of Aircraft Production. (6)

The administrative plan of the new Department of Munitions involved splitting the organisation of munitions manufacture into eight main sections or directorates:

         Directorate                   Director

  Explosives Supply                Mr T Donaldson

  Gun Ammunition Production        Mr W J Smith

  Ordnance Production              Mr L J Hartnett

  Aircraft Production              Mr H W Clapp

  Machine Tools and Gauges         Colonel F G Thorpe

  Materials Supply                 Sir Colin Fraser

  Finance                          Mr E V Nixon

  Labour Supply and Regulation     Mr J B Chifley (7)

During the war years changes in the Directorates occurred. With the creation of the Department of Aircraft Production (CA 41) that Directorate ceased. The Directorate of Finance was amalgamated with the Finance Branch of the Department under the Assistant Secretary (Finance). The Directorate of Technical Practice appeared and terminated and the Directorate of Locomotive and Rolling Stock Construction was amalgamated with the Directorate of Small Craft Construction on 31 May 1945. Other Directorates were Electricity Supply (1942), Timber Control (July 1941), Radio and Signal Supplies (by 1944), Stores and Transport, Production Orders and Statistics.

On 3 December 1945 any remaining Commonwealth controls of materials (including ferrous and non-ferrous metals) over which jurisdiction had still been retained were transferred to the Department of Works and Housing (CA 52).

Control of machine tools, ball and roller bearings, electrical machinery, and radio and signal parts was relinquished by the end of December 1945, the control of hand tools on 17 June 1946 and of industrial chemicals in October 1945. In March 1946, control of timber was transferred to the Department of Works and Housing. (8)

To overcome problems of State and Central Office relations, to co-ordinate and control the private manufacture of war material and to provide local information and liaison with manufacturers and traders, State Boards of Area Management were set up in each State, with the following chairmen:
 
 New South Wales   - Sir Philip Goldfinch
 Victoria          - Sir Alexander Stewart
 Queensland        - Colonel D E Evans
 South Australia   - Mr F T Parry
 Western Australia - Mr R O Law
 Tasmania          - Mr H B Bennett
 
Sections like Machine Tools and Gauges and Explosives Supply remained independent of the Boards of Area Management, the former because its products held a special position in manufacture throughout the Commonwealth (and within the organisation itself there existed competing demands for its products); the latter because, once its major manufacturing capacity was established, such capacity would pass to the Commonwealth to be administered directly as government factories. (9)

With the re-organisation of the Department on 31 May 1945, the Boards of Area Management relinquished their role in the production of war material. Their functions were progressively transferred to departmental officials with the designation of State Controller of Munitions. (10)

On 31 May 1945, the Director-General of Munitions relinquished his appointment and the functions performed by him were assumed by the Minister for Munitions. The Secretary of the Department, as its Permanent Head, became responsible for its general administration, and the Assistant Director-General reverted to his pre-war appointment as Controller-General of Munitions Supply. (11)

On 1 November 1946, with the winding down of war production, the Department of Aircraft Production was abolished and its functions absorbed into the Department of Munitions. The process of administrative change continued with the abolition of the Department of Munitions of 6 April 1948. (12) Its functions and the legislation it controlled were transferred to the Department of Supply and Development [II] (CA 54), the instrument detailing the change being the Supply and Development Act 1948.

The Administrative Arrangements Order of 12 March 1947 listed the Acts and Functions controlled by the Department at that time. These, which remained unaltered until the abolition of the Department in 1948, were: (13)

 Aluminium Industry Act 1944
 Defence (Transitional Provisions) Act 1946, insofar as it related to
  the following regulations:
 
  National Security (Munitions) Regulations
  National Security (Shipbuilding) Regulations

The functions listed were:
 
 Manufacture, acquisition, provision and supply of munitions (that is
 to say, armaments, aircraft, arms, ammunition, weapons, vehicles,
 machines, vessels of ships, including the materials necessary for
 the production of those things) and all matters incidental thereto,
 involving -
 
  Operation and management of factories, workshops and undertakings  
   concerned in the production of munitions;
  Acquisition by the Commonwealth and the establishment of factories 
   and workshops for the purpose of producing munitions;
  Securing of supplies of materials, plant, tools and equipment  for
   that purpose;
  Employment and training of technicians, workmen and others for 
   that purpose;
  Arrangements and all action necessary to secure the supply,
   manufacture, processing and delivery of munitions.
 
 Building of merchant ships and other vessels (other than Naval 
  vessels) and repair and maintenance of all merchant ships and the
  provision of dry docking and repair facilities for merchant ships.
 Production in Australia of ingot aluminium.
 Control and limitation of profits in relation to the production of 
  munitions by private enterprise.

The records of the Central Administration of the Department were maintained by a record-keeping system of some complexity. Due to the varied responsibilities of the Department and the large number of different locations in which activities were carried out, the Department maintained a Central Registry (located first in the Rialto Building, 497 Collins Street and soon transferred to Western House, 83 William Street, Melbourne) and numerous Branch Registries. With many agencies staffed largely by outside business personnel, Registry staff experienced difficulty in gaining acceptance of standardised government practices in Branch Registries. There were:

 Administration                        Timber

 Factory Branch                        Electricity Supply

 Production, Orders and Statistics     Stores and Transport (Central 
                                       Office)

 Industrial                            Liquidations

 Materials Supply                      Chief Accountant

 Machine Tools and Gauges              Ministerial

 Purchasing                            Secret Registry

 Radio and Signal Supplies             Technical Practice

 Overseas Procurement                  Tool Equipment

 Public Relations                      Central Filing Store

                                       Manpower Liaison

The only Branch Registries in the Melbourne Metropolitan area not under the control of the Departments' Central Registry were:
 
 Directorate of Ordinance Production
 Directorate of Gun Ammunition
 Board of Area Management
 Operational Safety Committee
 
The Ministers for Munitions were:
 
11 Jun 1940 - 28 Oct 1940 : Hon R G Menzies (CP 54)
28 Oct 1940 -  7 Oct 1941 : Senator the Hon P A M McBride
 7 Oct 1941 - 15 Aug 1946 : Hon W J O Makin
15 Aug 1946 -  1 Nov 1946 : Hon J J Dedman
 1 Nov 1946 -  6 Apr 1948 : Senator the Hon J I Armstrong
 
Director-General of Munitions:
 
21 May 1940 - 31 May 1945 : E Lewis (CP 111)
 
Secretaries of the Department of Munitions:
 
18 Aug 1940 - 31 Dec 1941 : J B  Brigden
 1 Jan 1942 -  5 Apr 1948 : J K  Jensen (CP 138)


References
 
1. Commonwealth Gazette, No 105, 12 June 1940, p 1237
2. National Security (Munitions) Regulations, Statutory Rules, No
   111/1940, 15 June 1940
3. Committee of Review - Civil Staffing of Wartime Activities,
   "Report on the Department of Munitions", 8 November 1945, p 2
4. Paul Hasluck, the Government and the People, 1939-1941,
   Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1952, p 459
5. Ibid
6. Ibid p 460
7. S J Butlin, War Economy, 1939-1942, Australian War Memorial,     
   Canberra 1955, pp 312-313
8. Commonwealth Year Book, No 37, 1946-1947, p 1162
9. Butlin, Op cit, p 313
10. Commonwealth Year Book, No 36, 1944-1945, p 1040
11. Commonwealth Gazette, No 52, 14 March 1947, p 892
12. Commonwealth Year Book, No 36, 1944-1945, p 1040
13. Commonwealth Gazette, No 56, 6 April 1948, p 1849

Historical agency address
Western House, 83 William Street, Melbourne

Legislation administered
Creation: Executive Council Meeting No. 57 (Prime Minister's Dept. Min. 85) of 12 June 1940.
Abolition: Executive Council Meeting No. 14 (Prime Minister's Dept. Min. 26) of 6 April 1948