This series consists of three numbered copies of Volume(s) of minutes of meetings and memoranda of the "British Commonwealth Meeting April 1945", a conference of British Commonwealth representatives held in London which preceded the United Nations 'Conference on World Organisation', held in San Francisco between 26 April - 26 June, 1945.
The volume(s)/copies were prepared by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London for the United Kingdom delegates and the visiting delegates from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. The meeting was held to reach agreement on issues to be discussed at the San Francisco Conference.
The series consists of copies numbered 8,9 and 78 which belonged respectively to Dr H. V. Evatt (Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs); Mr S. M. (later Lord) Bruce, the Australian High Commissioner in London; and Dr Roland Wilson, Secretary of the Department of Labour and National Service. Other members of the Australian delegation were F.M. Forde (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Army and leader of the delegation); Mr Alfred Stirling, External Affairs officer and Australian High Commissioner (designate) for Canada; Mr P. E. Coleman, Assistant Secretary for Defence; Professor K. H. Bailey, temporary consultant to the Attorney-General; Mr P. M. Hasluck, Mr W. D. Forsyth and Dr J. W. Burton (Secretary to Dr Evatt), External Affairs Department; Mr C. J. Gibson, Private Secretary to Mr Forde and Mr K. C. Handy, publicity officer.
The series was proposed to Archives for registration by the then Department of Foreign Affairs in 1987 (ref. A1986/1097 f.48). It is not known how the copies comprising the series came to be in the possession of the Foreign Affairs Department.
The main discussion at the London meetings covered the Dumbarton Oakes proposals and matters arising from the Crimea/Yalta Conference. (See also A5954, Box 1821) The full record of the 4th meeting (on Foreign Affairs) in contained in a "Confidential Annex", classified "Top Secret". This meeting took place between only the highest ranking delegates; and can be found in this series, only in copy 8 [1], that of the Attorney General and Minister for External Affairs (Dr H. V. Evatt). It is not known if a published version of the conference papers exist - this is presently being investigated by the Historical Research section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (1988).
The volumes comprising the series are bound, in hard covers. The first volume [1] copy no. 8 is in a dark blue cover with a broad red band around the middle. "Top Secret" in gold printing is in the top left hand corner; "Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs is in the top right hand corner. Below this is "British Commonwealth Meeting April 1945", and below this, again, on the red band, "Minutes of Meetings and Memoranda". Finally, in the bottom portion of the cover - "BCM(45) 1st-12th Meeting and BCM(45) 1-19 Memoranda". The spine is printed with "British Commonwealth Meeting, April 1945. Minutes of Meetings and Memoranda". The title page is stamped with no:'8'. Pencilled annotations or other markings have been made against the text in various places and some pencilled underlining is evident. The inside cover has been annotated [1] by Australian Archives for control and retrieval purposes.
The second volume [2] copy no.9 also has a blue cover over which a buff coloured sheet has been pasted. This sheet is printed with "Secret" in black in the top left-hand corner and copy no. (9) in the top right-hand corner. "Mr Bruce" is written in pencil in the top right-hand corner. The remainder of the cover (and the spine) is printed in black with the same information as for volume [1]. This volume, additionally, contains two sheets of yellow paper with handwritten notes, some in pencil, some in ink, these are between pages 12 and 13 of the 10th meeting. The inside cover has been annotated [2] by Australian Archives. Volume [3] copy no. 78 in similar to Volume [2] except that "Dr R. Wilson" is written in the top right hand corner. This copy, also has loose papers, inside the front cover, as follows:-
a paper prepared for the Australian Delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organisation at San Francisco .."Questions for Consideration", classified "Top Secret". This copy is identified as copy no. 15 for Dr Wilson. - "United Nations Conference on International Organisation. Memorandum by the Australian Minister for External Affairs on Major Issues". It is classified "Secret" and is annotated with the initial 'RW'.
The inside cover of the volume has been annotated as [3] by Australian Archives.