FUNCTION AND CONTENT

This series contains originals or duplicates of 'Dominions' despatches received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies enclosing printed secret reports on the progress of the First World War but also includes some letters from the Governor Generals Office about transmission of additional copies to the Prime Minister. When the despatches were first sent they included a copy for the Governor General and one for the Prime Minister.
 
The reports were printed weekly for the War Cabinet and are of two main varieties, one'Western and General' Reports which sometimes include'British Empire and African' Reports, and 'Eastern' REports which sometimes include 'Arabian' Reports. The reports contain news bulletins and intelligence summaries relating to political, economic and military matters in the various parts of the world bearing on the war. Attached to the front page of most of the reports up to the end of 1917 are 'appreciations' of the contents drawn up by the War Cabinet Secretariat.

In the despatch which was sent with the first of the reports the Secretary of State points out that these reports are intended purely for the information of the Governor General and the Prime Minister and states that if any action is to be taken on the information supplied it will be made the subject of a 'special communication'. He also points out that the 'appreciations' are not to be taken to be an expression of the views of the British Government. The reports were therefore sent more as a news sheet rather than as documents upon which actions and policies should be based.

In addition to a general title, such as 'Western and General', each report is identified by a serial number and date (eg 'No 36 Week ending 3rd October) and by a distribution control number allotted by the issuing officer.

As stated above originally two copies were sent to the Governor General but from April 1918 only one copy was sent. This was because the Prime Minister was in the UK from April 1918 till August 1919 and the reports were passed to him directly while he was there.

These reports were originally all within three files in the 'War' files (see CP78/23), the reports from 1917 being put away in file 1917/89/840, those from 1918 in 1918/89/264 and those from 1919 in 1919/89/154. At some time after their creation these reports were removed from series CP78/23 and filed in the order of receipt. This information was found in the Governor Generals Office stamp on the despatches, the reports themselves having no numbers on them. The files were numbered in order of date of receipt and this explains why the despatch number order varies throughout the series, Despatch 401 which sent the first reports being numbered 1917/89/840/3 rather than 1917/89/840/1. In some cases the despatches are wildly out of order and are marked 'Duplicate copy - original lost in transfer' and this would seem to indicate that the ship on which the despatch was being sent was sunk. Reports later than 1919 are to be found in CP78/22 as the 'War' files were discontinued in 1920. 

FINDING AIDS

All items in this series in the custody of Australian archives as at December 1996 have been entered onto the item level database, ANGAM II.