Series number

AWM291

Series title

Records of Australian Forces Vietnam Provost Unit

Contents date range

1962-1972

Extent

10.6 metres

Access conditions

Subject to the Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial agency

Australian War Memorial

Function and provenance

The first Australian military police to serve in South Vietnam consisted of a section of the 1st Divisional Provost Company (1 Div Pro Coy) of the Royal Australian Army Provost Corp (RAA PRO) who arrived in Saigon on 28th May 1965.  The section was later expanded and became known as the Australian Force Vietnam Provost Unit (AFV Pro Unit) and was under the command of Australian Force Vietnam HQ (AFV HQ), Saigon.

Military Police from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Service Police, Royal New Zealand Provosts (RNZ Provosts) and the United States Military Police were also attached to the unit.  A Special Investigation Branch (SIB) which was part of the RAA PRO also served in Vietnam.  Their main role was the investigation of all criminal offences committed by members of the Australian Army, other investigations of a special nature along with anti-vice control and black market control.

AFV Pro Units were based in three locations at Vung Tau, Nui Dat and Saigon.  Some of the tasks that the Provosts provided were:

·          Discipline patrols

·          Armed vehicle/convoy escorts

·          Vehicle and traffic patrols

·          TAOR (tactical area of responsibility) patrols.  These patrols were made by the Provosts to check the perimeter and defences of their allocated areas.

·          VIP/special escorts

·          Detention barrack duties

·          Military policing support as required

Vung Tau was the headquarters for the Provost Unit.  It was also the location of the 2nd Military Corrective Establishment (2MCE) where soldiers who had committed offences under Australian Military Regulations were often sentenced to periods of detention. A detachment of Military Police was also based in Nui Dat and another detachment was based in Saigon throughout the conflict and provided support to Australian troops while in Saigon.

The unit was disbanded on its return to Australia in April 1972 but raised again at a later date.

The records of AFV Pro Unit were amongst the first major transfer of records relating to the Vietnam War from the Department of Defence to the Australian War Memorial which occurred between November 1981 and March 1982.  This consignment was accessioned as OW82/11.  They formed part of a large series which was designated as AWM100 in the mid 1980s when the Memorial adopted its new numbering system.

The registry cards which controlled this series of records were transferred in February 1982, accessioned as OW82/20 and later designated AWM104.

Since 1999 Official Records staff have removed subseries from AWM100, and registered each of them as a separate series of records.  The records of AFV Pro Unit were added to the RecordSearch database in June 2001 and redesignated as series AWM291.

Content

The bulk of the files (approximately eighty per cent) consist of detention files of those soldiers who underwent detention at the AFV Detention Barracks (2MCE) at Vung Tau.  Each file contains a personal record card and details of the offence.  These files have been arranged alphabetically by surname in numerical sequence, e.g., Thompson T23 and Thorburn T24.

The remaining files relate to the administration and organisation of the unit and include the following categories: accidents, deaths and casualties, accounting, conferences, finance, movements, personnel and stores and equipment.

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).

The original registry cards which control this series form part of series AWM104.  They can also be accessed in the Memorial’s Research Centre.

Sources

AWM administrative file, AWM291 Series dossier

AWM98, [582], Establishment of Provost Unit

AWM98, R310/2/59, Part 1, Establishments-AFV-Aust Provost Unit

AWM291, R237/3/1, Correspondence from PM [Provost Marshall]

‘MP Vietnam’, Information from personal interviews with ex MP Vietnam Veterans – Jim Oldfield and Wally Pinch, 2000 [website accessed may 2004] http://home.iprimus.com.au/buckomp/mpvnmoverview.html 

‘Royal Australian Corps of Military Police’ [website accessed May 2004] http://home.mweb.co.za/re/redcap/australia.htm