Series Number
AWM96
Series Title
Australian Army commanders' diaries registers
Date Series Created
June 1990
Series contents date range
1950-1984
Extent
0.45 metres
Access conditions
Subject to the Australian Archives Act (1983)
Agency controlling
Australian War Memorial
Function and provenance
This series comprises three loose-leaf folders, being registers of
commanders’ diaries. The registers were
created and maintained by Department of Army Information Management (DAIM), in
the Directorate-General Coordination and Organisation (DGCO) – Army
Office. Their purpose was to record the
receipt of commanders’ diaries as the various units that produced them sent
them in. In February 1982 they were
transferred to the Australian War Memorial (AWM), along with many of the actual
commanders’ diaries that the registers recorded.
The registers were initially accessioned as OW82/4, and in June 1990
designated AWM96. Until January 2003,
all three registers were together given the single item control symbol ‘Whole
Series’, after which they were each given their own control numbers, 1, 2 &
3. The diaries formed a separate series
and were designated AWM95.
Series descriptive note
Each folder contains forms that are either titled War Diary Register,
or Commanders Diary Register.
Each page allows for the name of the unit producing the diary to be
recorded, as well as the month of the diary, with columns to record receipt of
the original, or copies. There is also
a column to record any remarks.
They are arranged by unit in order of battle, sub-divided by corps. For most
units the diaries that are recorded are those produced on their tours of
Vietnam. In the case of older units
such as 1st, 2nd or 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, the registers
record receipt of diaries dating back to 1950.
In most cases the forms show only the date that a particular diary was
received by DAIM. If no date is
recorded, then it must be assumed the diary never arrived, although sometimes ‘NR’
(not received) will appear in such a column.
In some cases the letter ‘C’ appears, which recorded if a diary was
‘Complete’ (meaning it had all the components it should). This came from a 1981
stocktake of the diaries, prior to the inquiries into herbicide use in the
Vietnam War. Entries made in pencil in
Folder 1 also record the dates between 1980 and 1984 that the diaries arrived
at the AWM.
System of arrangement and control
The three registers are non-registered files, so were given imposed
control item numbers by the AWM, beginning at 1 and continuing serially.
Sources
AWM96 series dossier
AWM95 series dossier, parts 1-3
AWM File 417/020/039