Series number
AWM303
Series title
Records of 12th Field Regiment,
Royal Australian Artillery (12 Fd Regt RAA), Vietnam
Contents date range
1965-1972
Extent
2 metres
Access conditions
Subject to Archives Act 1983
Agency controlling
Department of Defence
Custodial agency
Australian War Memorial
Function and
provenance
12th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery (12 Fd Regt
RAA) was raised at Holsworthy, New South Wales on 18th April 1966 and consisted
of 102nd Field Battery and 104th Field Battery. The first Commanding Officer was Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Kelly,
DSO.
The regiment’s first tour of duty in South
Vietnam was from March 1968 - March 1969
during which it served with distinction.
The regiment which was part of the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) and
located in Phuoc Tuy Province, fought a notable action at Fire Support Base
Coral for which a number of decorations were awarded to members of the unit.
During its second tour, commencing in March 1971, the unit
occupied several of the fire support bases in the Task Force area. 102nd Battery took
part in ‘Operation Overlord’ in June 1971.
The regiment, less 104th Battery was withdrawn
from Vietnam in
November 1971 as part of the withdrawal of 1 ATF. 104th Battery followed in December 1971.
The records of 12 Fd Regt 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.
Since 1999 Official Records staff have removed subseries
from AWM100, and registered each of them as a separate series of records. The records of 12 Fd Regt were added to the
RecordSearch database in July 2002 and the series was redesignated AWM303.
Content
12 Fd Regt created its files to document its activities, to
record events and to enable efficient retrieval for future reference. The files in this series cover the following
categories: accidents and casualties, discipline, general correspondence,
equipment and supplies, finance, movements, orders and instructions, personnel,
reports, supplies and training.
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, AWM303 Series dossier
Gower, S. N. 1981, Guns
of the regiment, Canberra,
Australian War Memorial
Horner, David 1995, The
gunners: a history of Australian Artillery, St Leonards, NSW, Allen and
Unwin
Rickards, G. F. B. 1971, Twelve
in focus: 12th Field Regiment in South Vietnam
1971, a memento for all ranks of the tour in South
Vietnam, Ingleburn, NSW, 12th Field
Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery