Series number

AWM317

Series title

Records of 5 Company Royal Australian Army Service Corps (RAASC)

Contents date range

1965-1972

Extent

4.8 metres

Access conditions

Subject to the Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial agency

Australian War Memorial

Function and provenance

5 Company Royal Australian Army Service Corps (5 Coy RAASC) was formed on 30 May 1966 at Fraser’s Paddock, Qld, (currently Gallipoli Barracks) from a Citizens’ Military Forces (CMF) unit and moved to Ingleburn, New South Wales to prepare for duty in South Vietnam.

In April 1967 the unit replaced 1 Transport Company at Vung Tau where its main role was to support 1 Australian Task Force (1 ATF) which was located at Nui Dat.  The unit consisted of HQ 5 Coy RAASC, Detachment 30 Terminal Squadron, Royal Australian Engineers (RAE), 2 Transport Platoon, 85 Transport Platoon, Detachment 86 Transport Platoon, 25 Supply Platoon, Detachment 8 Petroleum Platoon and Detachment 1 Divisional Supply and Transport Workshop, Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME).

In May and October 1967 the transport platoons were re-equipped with new five ton dump and cargo vehicles which made the job of re-supply quicker and more reliable.  To cope with the increasing demands from 1 ATF the company ran convoys or ‘packets’ of six to ten vehicles with some of them doing three trips per day to support forward areas. ‘Gun jeeps’ were required to accompany each convoy.  From July 1967 to February 1968 the unit participated in and supported 1 ATF on every task force operation.

With the increase in size of 1 ATF and increasing enemy activity in the task force area it became necessary to establish a second company headquarters at Nui Dat.  Headquarters 26 Transport Company RAASC was formed in Nui Dat in December 1967 and took over some of the workload of 5 Coy RAASC which remained at Vung Tau.

The last elements of 5 Coy RAASC were withdrawn from South Vietnam in April 1972.

The records of 5 Coy RAASC were amongst the first major transfer of records from the Department of Defence to the Australian War Memorial relating to the Vietnam War 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 5 Coy RAASC were added to the RecordSearch database in May 2003 and the series was redesignated AWM317.

Content

5 Coy RAASC created its files to document its activities, to record events and to enable efficient retrieval for future reference.  The files in this series include the following categories: accounting, audit reports, establishments, investigations, orders and instructions 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, AWM317 Series dossier

Lindsay, Neville 1991, Equal to the task, Volume 1, The Royal Australian Army Service Corps, Kenmore, Qld, Historia Productions

Fegan, B. R. 1968, ‘The SAIF story’, Royal Australian Army Service Corps Digest, May, pp. 58-62

‘5 Company RAASC’

http://www.raasc.org.au/content/5%20Coy.html  [website accessed May 2004]