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One army, two armies?

In the course of its history, the Australian Army, both its full-time and part-time components, have been known by several titles that have changed to reflect the force's structure or have been changed to convey a certain image to the public. These names are listed below.

1901 - 1915: Commonwealth Military Forces

Citizens Forces
Permanent Forces
AIF - Australian Imperial Force (from 1914)
 

1916 - 1929: AMF - Australian Military Forces

PMF - Permanent Military Forces
CMF - Citizen Military Forces
AIF - Australian Imperial Force (until 1921)
 

1930-1939: AMF - Australian Military Forces

Militia (known unofficially as the Australian Militia Forces (AMF) or the CMF)
PMF - Permanent Military Forces


1939-1942: AMF- Australian Military Forces

Militia (known unofficially as the AMP (often corrupted to Australian Militia Forces))
AIF - Australian Imperial Force
PMF - Permanent Military Forces
 

1943-1946: AMF - Australian Military Forces

CMF - Citizen Military Forces
PMF - Permanent Military Forces
AIF - Australian Imperial Force
 

1946-1947/48: AMF - Australian Military Forces

Interim Army
CMF - Citizen Military Forces
 

1947/48-1980: AMF - Australian Military Forces

ARA - Australian Regular Army
ACMF - Australian Citizen Military Force
 

1980-1996: Australian Army

ARA - Australian Regular Army
GRES or A-RES - Army Reserve
RRES - Ready Reserve (1991-1995)
 

1996- : Australian Army

Full-time Army
Part-time Army

Collection Item C53577

Accession Number: A03735

General Sir Edward Hutton, first Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth Military Forces, c. 1901. A03735

Last updated: 27 October 2021

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Campbell ACT 2612
Australia
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The Australian War Memorial

Fairbairn Avenue

Campbell ACT 2612

Australia

 

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In preparation for the daily Last Post Ceremony,

galleries are progressively closed from 3:40 pm.

 

Public entrance via Fairbairn Avenue, Campbell ACT 2612

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