Series Number
AWM119
Series Title
Office of Military Secretary, Army - honours and awards confidential working
files
Series contents date range
1939-1980
Extent
10.4 metres
Access conditions
Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)
Agency controlling
Department of Defence
Custodial Agency
Australian War Memorial
Function and provenance
The records in this series are the working files created by the Army Office
of the Military Secretary in processing applications for honours and awards
relating to the Second World War, Korea, the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesian
Confrontation and Vietnam. The Honours and Awards subsection (MS 1) comprised a
major and two corporals who in addition to the honours and awards, also
administered special staff and honorary colonel appointments, and maintained
the organisation’s reference library.
The types of awards fall into four main categories;
- Periodic awards, including
King’s Birthday and New Year’s Honours
- Operational awards
- Bravery awards
- Commendations
In December 1983 a consignment of records was transferred to the Australian
War Memorial from the Department of Defence (Office of the Military Secretary –
Army). The shipment comprised three types of records.
- Army officer’s confidential career reports, c1910-1978 (accessioned as
OW83/12)
- Army records of service ledgers, c1880s-1940s (originally unaccessioned)
- Army honours and awards confidential working files (accessioned as
OW83/13).
Of these three groups, the career reports were later accessioned as AWM118,
the service ledgers as AWM182, and the honours and awards files as AWM119. In
November 1988 however, the Department of Defence recalled both AWM118 and
AWM119 to their custody. In 2000 the Department transferred AWM119 back the
Australian War Memorial.
Content
As well as files on awards to individuals, some files are more general,
dealing with subjects such as particular types of awards, or all awards for a
certain conflict or campaign. In addition to the many Australian or British
Empire honours and awards, there are some files relating to awards to
foreigners, or from foreign countries to Australians.
The majority of the files relate to the Second World War (approximately two
thirds), with the remaining files covering subsequent conflicts.
Commonly, each honours and awards file includes recommendations,
correspondence and various forms involved in the process. These records show
how decisions were made to either approve or not approve awards to individuals,
and are a valuable source for those researching the subject.
Sources
AWM119 series dossier
AWM file 417/001/033
AWM119 [649] - Office of the Military Secretary – [book containing Master Organization
Tree; Statements of Functions of Sections; Section Organization Trees;
Statements of Duties, arranged by sections]