Naval historical collection

This series comprises original records and other material created and acquired by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and collected in the Naval Historical Records Section and its successors in Navy Office. The Naval Historical Records Section was proposed in a memorandum of 28 May 1943 from the Minister for the Interior to War Cabinet, in which he recommended that the Naval Board establish an historical section within the Naval Intelligence Division. The Naval Board gave its approval in June 1943. Made part of the Directorate of Naval Intelligence, the new section's duties included some previously carried out elsewhere in Naval Intelligence. It began work on 12 October 1943 at Navy Office, Melbourne. The Section's main role was to prepare information for the Official History of the 1939-45 War. It collected, examined, arranged and indexed source material it procured from ships, naval establishments and overseas.

A number of consignments of naval records from the Archives and Historical Section of the Department of Defence, a successor of the Naval Historical Records Section, collectively known as AWM 124, were transferred into the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in 1982 and 1983, with a subsequent addition made in 2001. These included original files, research notes and historical drafts, printed items (books, manuals, etc), cards, photographs, microfilm, maps, charts and plans.
The records of the two Royal Commissions into the HMAS VOYAGER disaster and of various naval enquiries were also included. Parts of these accessions were subsequently transferred to AWM collections. The printed material went to the Printed Collection; the maps, charts and plans went into the Special Collections; and the photographs and microfilm went into the Photograph and Film Collections. Of the written records which were absorbed into the Official Records Collection, some were considered to constitute series in themselves and were separated out and serialized independently. The Royal Commission and enquiry records were made into AWM 178 (Records of the Royal Commission into the loss of HMAS VOYAGER), AWM 179 (Records of the Royal Commission into the statement of Lieutenant Commander Cabban), AWM 180 (Naval Investigations and Enquiries), AWM 185 (Records of the Royal Commission on Cockatoo Island Dockyard) and AWM 186 (Records of the Royal Commission on Navy and Defence Administration). The research notes and drafts became AWM 188 (Naval Historical Section research files) and AWM 189 (Naval Historical Section duplicate research files).

The archival material which remained and now forms AWM 124 was a miscellaneous and largely unarranged collection of naval records ranging in period from the nineteenth century to recent times. After accessioning, two small groups of items were separately arranged and listed. Under the present artificial arrangement, which replaced previous listings and documented the large volume of unprocessed material, items have been divided into broad period groupings: pre-First World War, First World War, inter-war period, Second World War and post-Second World War. Each item was given a two number control.

The first number (1/..., 2/..., etc) represents the period of the record, as follows:

1/... - Pre-First world War
2/... - First World War
3/... - Inter-War Period
4/... - Second World War
5/... - Post-Second World War

The second number (.../1, .../2, etc) is the individual item running number within the period groupings. Items have then been roughly arranged into broad subject categories under the following headings:
administration/policy; shore establishments; vessels; convoys; operations/intelligence; mining; prisoners of war/casualties; foreign records; historical material.

• AWM124 Class 1 - Pre-First world War
• AWM124 3 - Between Wars
• AWM124 4 - Second World War
• AWM124 5 - Post 1945