Series number

AWM 318

 

Series title

Records of 18 Company Royal Australian Army Service Corps (18 Coy RAASC)

 

Contents date range

1967-1971

 

Extent

10 cm

 

Access conditions

Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)

 

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial agency

Australian War Memorial

 

Function and Provenance

During Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War, 18 Company Royal Australian Army Service Corps (18 Coy RAASC) was stationed in Northern Command based in Queensland.   The unit (sometimes referred to as 18 Transport Company), was often involved in training support including task force and infantry battalion pre-Vietnam exercises at Shoalwater Bay Training Area.  It appears that the unit was usually based at Enoggera Barracks (Brisbane), but there is evidence in the files that between 1967 and 1971 the company (or subunits of it) were temporarily located at Tin Can Bay Training Area, ‘The Glen’ near Rockhampton, and Wacol near Brisbane.

A major expansion of the Jungle Training Centre at Canungra, caused by the decision that everyone allotted for duty in Vietnam had to complete a battle efficiency course at the centre, imposed a heavy transport and supply workload.  The units under the command of 18 Coy to meet this workload were 31 Supply Platoon and 24 Transport Platoon. 

The records of 18 Coy were amongst the major transfer of records which occurred between November 1981 and March 1982, from the Department of Defence to the Australian War Memorial, relating to the Vietnam War.  They formed part of a larger series which was designated as AWM 100 in the 1980’s.  Since 1999 Official Records staff have removed sub-series from AWM 100 and registered each of them as a separate series of records.  The records of 18 Coy were added to the RecordSearch database and the series re-designated AWM 318.

Content

This series at present comprises merely six files, but of course the unit must have created much more than this.  It is not know what happened to the rest of the unit’s records, and we can assume they are either still held by the Department of Defence, or were at some stage lost or destroyed.  The surviving records cover the following topics:

·          Injury reports in Australia

·          Theft of equipment in Australia

·          Operational readiness report on HQ 18 Coy

·          Nominations and movement details of personnel to Jungle Training Centre courses

·          Ammunition and Explosives in Australia report

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.  AWM 318 contains registered records.  The registered records have a three-part number conforming to the Department of the Army registry classification of correspondence catalogue.  The first number represents the primary topic of the item, the second and third number refines the topic further in particular the third number representing the sequential file number for the record subject.  Item numbers are preceded by the letter “R”.

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, AWM 318 Series dossier

Lindsay, N  (1992), Equal to the task, Volume 1, The Royal Australian Army Service Corps, Historia Productions.