Highlight on official records of the First World War: AWM22 - Australian Imperial Force Headquarters (Egypt), Central registry files, 1914-18 War

Highlight on the official records of the First World War is a centenary program of posts highlighting those records created 100 years ago, why they exist and how we can help make these essential records available for research purposes. 

Function and provenance

The establishment of an Australian Imperial Force (AIF) Intermediate Base in Cairo, Egypt was recommended in December 1914, and took effect from 15 January 1915 with Col V C M Sellheim as Commanding Officer.  The Base came directly under the General Officer Commanding (GOC), Egypt.  Its role was to provide administrative support to AIF Headquarters in Egypt, and co-ordination between the Headquarters, the Australian Government, and the High Commissioner's Office and War Office in London.

The present series, known as the "Cairo Registry files", was amongst a large quantity of records returned to Australia at the end of the 1914-18 War.  The series was taken over by the Australian War Memorial from AIF Base Records Office (CA 2001) in Melbourne on 21 April 1931, but was not re-located to Canberra until about 1948.  The records (originally c.90 feet) were heavily culled in 1957 (and possibly also earlier) as it was considered they were "lacking the historical content which would have justified their retention".  The need to create space for 1939-45 War records seems the more overriding (and regrettable) reason.

Content

By mid 1915, the Base was organized in six sections:

     1.  Records and Postal
     2.  Finance
     3.  Ordnance and ASC duties
     4.  Medical
     5.  Remount and Veterinary
     6.  Base Details

A subsequent attempt to move the Base to Alexandria under the control of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was resisted, and it continued in operation into 1919.  The Officer in Charge of the Cairo Central registry was Warrant Officer F Ballhausen.  He and several other Base staff were commended for loyal service.  A sub-section of AWRS [Australian War Records Section] joined the AIF HQ Egypt and among other things handled maps.

System of arrangement and control

Although the multiple number system of the series appears homogeneous, it apparently covers two separate sets of files referred to as "Old Cairo" (to class 490/-) and "New Cairo" (from class 501/-).  Both had unused numbers.  Subjects covered in the extant portion of AWM22 include personnel matters (commissions, transfers, promotions, disposal of kit, rates of pay, allowances), equipment, graves and memorials, canteens, chaplains, complaints, hospital ships, wearing of emu plumes, colour patches, the 1917 census and conscription referendum, "Kia-ora Cooee" and other publications, codewords, inventions, riots, the Australian Flying Corps, Dunsterforce, and the Australian Army Postal Service.

Using the series

AWM22 is not a collection that is digitised for searching on the Australian War Memorial’s website, though users will find references to the series using the Collections search function.

Official records held at the Memorial are listed and described on RecordSearch, the National Archives of Australia’s collection database.

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