Summary heading

PP14/3 - Register of aliens maintained under War Precautions (Aliens Registered) Regulations 1916, alphabetical series 

Function and purpose

These records were created as part of the War Precautions (Aliens Registration) Regulations, 1916. These regulations stipulated that all aliens (immigrants) entering the Commonwealth were to register and have their movements within the Commonwealth monitored by Alien Registration Officers. This role was often delegated to local police or customs officers.

Upon arrival in the Commonwealth, the alien was required to attend in person before an Aliens Registration Officer (ARO). Form A (two different versions, A1 and A2) was required to be filled in duplicate, and submitted with their Certificate of Registration (if previously registered under the Regulations during a previous visit) along with their passport. Aliens were then required to report back to the district ARO once they had acquired a place of abode. If at any time the individual wished to move permanently to a new district or leave the Commonwealth, they were required to complete Form E each time this occurred. Form E was then attached to the individual’s Form A, thus providing a record of the individual’s movements into, around and out of Australia.

Form A, Form of Application for Registration, was the first form type used to fulfil the Regulations. Form A required the following information:

• Name in full
• Nationality
• Sex
• Birthplace
• Occupation
• Date of birth
• Usual place of abode and place now staying at
• Place of business (if any)
• Date of entry into Commonwealth

Form A2, Form of Application for Registration (for aliens entering Commonwealth in overseas vessel), was introduced in 1917 and laid out the specific conditions under which aliens could enter the Commonwealth. The conditions covered ports at which aliens may land, firearms restrictions, ports at which aliens may embark, reporting to police, alien crews, and passports. This form called for:

• Name in full
• Nationality
• Sex
• Birthplace
• Occupation
• Date of birth
• Name of vessel
• Port at which alien embarked
• Usual place of abode (abroad) and place of abode (if any) in Commonwealth
• Particulars of passport (if any) – number, date, place of issue
• If previously registered – number of certificate, date, place of issue

Both cards called for a personal description (height, build, hair colour, eye colour, notable marks and remarks) as well as the signature of the applicant and the imprint of their left thumbprint. 

Form E required the same details as Form A2, as well as details of their intended new place of abode. Alien Registration Officers at both old and new residences would then date and sign off on the forms. If the individual was applying to leave the Commonwealth, they were required to enter their port of embarkation and disembarkation, ship and date of departure onto Form E.

Examples of these forms can be seen on pages 298 and 299 of Commonwealth Statutory Rules of 1917. 

Using the series

As all alien registration forms have been entered into the RecordSearch database, a form relating to a particular person(s) or nationality can be retrieved by keyword search in RecordSearch (limiting search by Series No PP14/3). 

Physical characteristics

The cards in this series are one of two types of 8 inch by 8.5 inch cards, Forms A1 and A2, Form of Application for Registration under the War Precautions Act 1916. The forms are generally filled in completely using various media – ink, pencil. Most also have the left thumbprint of the individual applying.

Form Es were a single sheet of paper slightly smaller than the Form A card, and are generally glued onto the appropriate Form A.

System of arrangement and control

The system of arrangement for this series is complex. At the time of creation, between 1916 and 1920, the agency organised the records by nationality as per the political divisions of the time. Within those groupings, the forms have been arranged in alphabetical order by the applicant’s surname. The applicant specified their nationality according to their own personal preference, thus many different nationalities were supplied and the Forms were then fitted into nationality groupings determined by the Commonwealth.

Since the creation of these records, the political divisions in the world have considerably changed and some of these nationality groupings no longer refer to contemporary countries – for example, ‘Siamese’ which was later Thai. A complicating factor is that the exact method used by the agency to determine these nationality groupings is not known.

One example of this is the nationality grouping of Austrian. This grouping covers individuals who nominated their nationality as Italian, Hungarian, Austrian and Dalmatian; however Italian has also been used as a stand-alone grouping.

In some cases the individual did not nominate a nationality or nominated one the agency did not provide a nationality grouping for. These records were then classified by the agency as ‘Miscellaneous’ and placed in a group at the end of the record series.

In order to maintain the original order in which the records were used in the agency, these nationality groupings have been maintained upon transfer to the Archives and also during later preservation treatments. The nationality grouping by which the agency arranged the forms has been maintained as the first part of the item’s control symbol. The nationality nominated by the individual applicants has been entered onto RecordSearch as part of the item title in order to facilitate access and enhance description of the records. However, this often conflicts with the nationality grouping under which the individual’s form has been controlled by the agency.

Relationships with other records

 This accession forms part of a larger group of records that document the registration of aliens in Western Australia – see series links for individual series numbers.

Series history

 

Provenance

These cards were initially collected by police officers acting as alien registration officers and then forwarded to Intelligence Section, General Staff, 5th Military District (WA). 

With the creation of the Commonwealth Investigation Service (CIS) in 1919, the cards were handed over to that Department and have been held by the CIS until transfer to the custody of the Archives. Considerable usage was made of the cards by the Commonwealth Security and Immigration Department, but physical control has always remained with CIS. 

Disposal history

 

Additional information

The following data was keyed from the paper transfer documentation:

Form number:                           CA 17

Creating department:                  Attorney Generals, Commonwealth Investigation Service

Transferring department:            Attorney Generals, Commonwealth Investigation Service, Administration

Date of transfer:                        13/07/1957

Archives file number:                        RWP7/1/2