The Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1975 - Vietnam War - Army series - Records of Ian McNeill and Ashley Ekins

Following the appointment of Dr Peter Edwards as Official Historian of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1975, Ian McNeill was appointed senior research officer to the Official History Unit in July 1984. He was promoted to principal research officer and principal writer of the two ground (combat) operations volumes of the official history relating to the Vietnam War in October 1987.  

Ian Graham McNeill was born in Melbourne in 1933 and grew up in Wagga Wagga, NSW. He graduated from the Royal Military College Duntroon in 1954, and also obtained qualifications from the University of New England and the Australian National University. As an infantry officer with the Australian Army he served in Korea (1955), Singapore (1961-63) and with the Australian Army Training Team in Vietnam (1965-66).
 
He joined the Military History Section of the Department of Defence's Army Office as a senior research officer in 1972, where he researched "The Team; Australian Army advisers in Vietnam" 1962-1972 (published 1984). His first combat operations volume for the official history, "To Long Tan: the Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950-1966", was published in February 1993. The second volume, provisionally titled "A Province for a Battlefield: the Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1967-1972", was published as To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950-1966 (Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, Sydney, 1993).
 
The papers in AWM 257 have been arranged in sections based on material produced or used in relation to the first and second volumes, material relevant to both, and administrative material. Most sections have been further subdivided to incorporate runs of similar material (eg operation summary folders, situation reports); however, subdivision has been kept to a minimum. Each section has been allocated an alphabetical prefix, followed by one or two numbers for each subdivision, eg item D/2/1 relates to a folder (tertiary number '1') within the subdivision 'working notes/research material' (secondary number '2') of the section of the second volume "A Province for a Battlefield" (primary alphabetical prefix 'D').
 
It is expected that the McNeill papers will be retained by the Official History Unit until the Unit's work is complete and all volumes published. At that time they will be transferred to the Australian War Memorial's Official Records collection. Related series will be those containing the papers of other writers of the official history, which will be registered in due course.
Quantity in agency custody
c.10.0 sh.m held by CA 7042, Official History of Australia's Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts 1948-1975