Series number

AWM116

Series title

Records of Headquarters 1 Australian Logistic Support Group (Vung Tau)

Series contents date range

1965-1972

Extent

26 metres

Access conditions

Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial agency

Australian War Memorial

Function and provenance

The 1st Australian Logistical Support Group (1 ALSG) was established at Vung Tau in April 1966 as part of the deployment of the 1st Australian Task Force to Nui Dat in Phuoc Tuy province, east of Saigon.

1 ASLG encountered a number of problems in setting up the base.  Its location was a long strip of sand dunes and water supply was a problem as well as physical hygiene.

The initial numbers in 1ASLG were not sufficient to cope with the demands of the Task Force and shortages of essential items were common along with delays in unloading of the ships and aircraft..  However these problems were overcome as its establishment grew from 910 in July 1966 to 1317 a year later and to 1356 by December 1967.

At its height in 1969, 1 ALSG had under command an engineer construction squadron, the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers base workshop, an ordnance depot, a field hospital, a provost unit and an amenities and welfare unit.  1 ALSG remained in Vietnam until the end of 1971 when most of its personnel were withdrawn along with the Task Force.   The remaining group left in March 1972.

The records in this series were transferred from the Department of Defence to the Australian War Memorial from November 1981–March 1982.  The consignment was accessioned as OW82/11.  The series became known as AWM116 in the mid 1980s when the Memorial adopted its new numbering system for Official Records.

Files were removed from this series in 1982 and were used as research material for a report prepared by the Australian Army and tabled by the Minister for Defence in December 1982 entitled Report on the use of herbicides and insecticides and other chemicals by the Australian Army in South Vietnam.  As the records were declared open for public access they were placed in an artificial series known as AWM181, Herbicide Series.  Being no longer used for this purpose, in 1998 these records were removed from AWM181 and incorporated back into AWM116.

Contents

The files contain material relating to the operations and activities of 1 ALSG and also units under its command.  The files cover a wide range of topics including amenities, casualty and accident reports, civil affairs, equipment and supplies, operating procedures, operations reports, personnel matters, security, shipping movements and training.

Not all 1 ALSG files were transferred to the Memorial. Headquarters 1 ALSG created a registry file to document archival action or destruction of files prior to transfer. This file is R276/1/6. The lists containing details of the files marked for destruction may help the researcher to determine the gaps in the file sequence.

System of arrangement and control

The system of arrangement and control is the original Department of the Army filing system, as used when the records were created.

Registered files

Registered items have a three-part item number conforming with the Department of the Army registry classification of correspondence catalogue.  The first number represents the primary topic of the item, the second and third numbers refine the topic further.

Non registered files

Non registered items (not having registered item numbers) were given imposed numbers by the Australian War Memorial (AWM), beginning at 1 and continuing serially.  They are single numbers, not two or three part numbers like the registered items.  They retain their original titles.  Where no title was found, the AWM has imposed one that best describes the item’s contents.  All imposed information is enclosed in square brackets.

Using the series

Each item in the series is recorded on the RecordSearch database which researchers can access via the Internet.  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

AWM administrative file, AWM116 Series dossier

Dennis, Peter …[et al.] 1995, The Oxford companion to Australian military history, Oxford University Press, Melbourne

Frost, Frank 1987, Australia’s war in Vietnam, Sydney, Allen and Unwin

McNeill, Ian 1993, To Long Tan: the Australian Army and the Vietnam War

1950-1966, Allen and Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, St Leonards, NSW