| Accession Number | AWM62 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Official Record |
| Object type | Official Record |
| Date made | 1920 - 1943 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
| Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
Southern Command registry files
Description
Since Federation the Australian Army has been organised by geographical areas referred to as commands or military districts. At the outbreak of the Second World War the existing state based military districts were reorganised into four commands – Northern (Queensland), Eastern (New South Wales), Southern (Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia) and Western (Western Australia) with an independent garrison at Darwin which was designated the 7th Military District. Each command was responsible for the training and operations of the formations in its area.
Headquarters Southern Command which was based at Victoria Barracks in Melbourne came into existence in October 1939. It was succeeded by Headquarters Victorian Lines of Communication Area (HQ Vic L of C) on 15 April 1942. At the cessation of hostilities and the transition back to peace time conditions the Army reverted to the command system that had operated between 1939 and 1942 and Headquarters Southern Command was re-established in March 1946. As part of the general re-organisation of the armed forces in 1973, it was again abolished and replaced by 3rd Military District on 1 November 1973.
At the end of the Second World War the Army issued an instruction for all units to deal with the disposal of their ‘obsolete’ records. The order which was published as General Routine Order (GRO) 324 of 1945 called for units and formations which were to be disbanded to review and cull their records and forward those which were considered to be of ‘historical value’ to the Military History Section at the Sydney Showground. The records of fixed establishments which included Southern Command were reviewed by a Board of Survey who reported on what records or classes of records should be retained, transferred to an archival authority or destroyed.
The files in this series were transferred to the AWM from Southern Command following a Board of Survey as they were considered to be of historical value.