Australian War Memorial Logo
Search
  • Collection Open Information Close Information
    • Official Histories & Unit Diaries
    • Understanding the Collection
    • Research at the Memorial
    • Donating to the Collection
    • National Collection Loans
    • Projects
  • People
  • Visit
  • Commemorate Open Information Close Information
    • Last Post Ceremony
    • Honour Rolls
    • Anzac Day
    • Remembrance Day
    • Customs & Ceremony
    • Speeches
  • Learn Open Information Close Information
    • Schools & Teachers
    • Memorial Articles
    • Encyclopedia
    • Understanding Military Structure
    • Podcasts
    • Glossary
    • Wartime Magazine
  • Get Involved Open Information Close Information
    • Donations & Bequests
    • Corporate Partnership
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Volunteer at the Memorial
    • Friends of the Memorial
    • eMemorial Newsletter
    • Grants, Scholarships & Residencies
    • Research Papers
  • Shop Open Information Close Information
    • Lone Pine Seedlings
    • Images, film and sound

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. official histories
  3. introduction
  4. Second World War Official Histories Introduction

Main navigation

Second World War Official Histories Introduction

Gavin Long and the Official History of Australia in the War of 1939–1945

The official history of Australia’s involvement in the Second World War represents one of the longest and largest historical endeavours that Australia has ever seen. The enterprise began in January 1943 with the appointment of Gavin Long as General Editor. The 22 volumes, written by 14 authors, were published by the Australian War Memorial over a 25-year period between 1952 and 1977.

The Second World War official histories became part of a tradition of Australian official war writing that was established after the First World War by Australia’s first official war historian, Charles Bean. Gavin Long was appointed under Bean’s recommendation, and the two men were similar in background and temperament. Both were the sons of clergymen and, at different times, attended the same school, All Saints College in Bathurst. Both were journalists early in life and both were appointed official war correspondents, Bean in 1914 and Long in 1939. Both were eyewitnesses to the wars about which they later wrote. Long adopted many of Bean’s research and writing methods and he offered his authors the same firm but generous guidance that Bean’s colleagues enjoyed from him. And like Bean, Long would eventually write a one-volume summary of his war.

Long’s original plan for the Second World War official history was modified and expanded over a period of years. The recruitment of authors and the coordination of their work took up a great deal of Long’s time. Some potential authors declined offers of appointment; others were hampered by ill-health or other work commitments. Chester Wilmot, the great Australian war correspondent, was to write the Tobruk and El Alamein volume but died in a plane crash in January 1954 before he could begin work. Barton Maughan, who took his place, lived in Broken Hill, and archival records had to be shipped to him there. Allan Walker, the medical historian, wrote three volumes but ill health forced him to resign in 1956, leaving his fourth volume to be finished by others. Paul Hasluck’s political career and S.J. Butlin’s university commitments slowed progress on their home-front and war economy volumes.

Collection Item C14479

Accession Number: 044512

Second World War Official Historians

The administrative arrangements governing the project were complex. A War History Committee, consisting of the Prime Minister, the Minister for the Interior, the Minister for External Affairs, and the Leader of the Opposition, approved the appointment of the historians. The scheme of volumes was approved by Cabinet. The Department of the Interior administered and financed the project and the Australian War Memorial acted as publisher. Long and his staff were located at first at the Memorial but soon had to move and were located in various places around Canberra. Gavin Long, Allan Walker, and the staff of assistants were salaried public servants; appointments, classifications, and other such matters were regulated by the Public Service Board, which was often unsympathetic to the changing needs of the project. All the other historians were appointed on contract. Every delay, every extension of a contract or request for more money, even requests for permission to work overtime, had to be laboriously explained and justified by Long.

Access to records was also a problem at times. The scale of Australia’s commitment to the Second World War was greater than with the First, and no part of society or the economy was untouched. The volume of records of potential use to the historians was therefore enormous. Military records eventually were controlled by the Australian War Memorial, under its Director, John Treloar. Treloar was as helpful as he could be, but long experience had made him unwilling to provide records until they had been sorted. His small staff had difficulty keeping up with the demands of the official historians, impatient for access. Matters were not helped by Treloar’s aloof demeanour and devotion to procedure. Copies of the records of Australia’s allies and enemies were obtained, only after much effort. The historians working on the civilian volumes had to grapple with government departments which, in some cases, were anxious to get rid of their old war records and did so without checking.

Gavin Long wrote three of the army volumes but retired in 1963, leaving the project in the hands of his assistant, Bill Sweeting. Long’s volumes did not have the epic qualities of Charles Bean’s work but he was a vivid writer and is generally regarded as the better historian. He introduced some innovations. While his planned volume on “General Defence Policy” did not go ahead, there was a much greater focus, under his leadership, on the domestic history of the war. D.P. Mellor’s volume on the role of science and industry, for instance, was the first major work on the history of Australian science and still stands as a major statement on science and the state in Australia.

Works such as this have been long out of print. The Memorial’s digitisation of Australia’s Second World War official histories brings the entire 22 volumes to a new and wider readership: an idea, we think, that Gavin Long would have enjoyed.

Anne-Marie Condé
Historian
Australian War Memorial

Last updated: 9 December 2020

Explore the Collection

Explore the Collection

Our collection contains a wealth of material to help you research and find your connection with the wartime experiences of the brave men and women who served in Australia’s military forces.

Find out more
The Donations and bequests

Donations & Bequests

Your generous donation will be used to ensure the memory of our Defence Forces and what they have done for us, and what they continue to do for our freedom remains – today and into the future.

Find out more
The placesofpride

Places of Pride

Places of Pride, the National Register of War Memorials, is a new initiative designed to record the locations and photographs of every publicly accessible memorial across Australia.

Find out more
Visit the Australian War Memorial

Visit the Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial is open for visitors as we work to expand our galleries. All visitors require a free timed ticket to enter the Memorial Galleries and attend the Last Post Ceremony.

Find out more
Canberra Highlands in Grayscale

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS

The Australian War Memorial acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, sea and waters. We pay our respects to elders past and present.
Location map of The Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial building

The Australian War Memorial

Treloar Crescent
Campbell ACT 2612
Australia
View on Google Maps (opens in new window)
Google Map data ©2023 Google
Australian War Memorial Logo
  • Go to AWM Facebook
  • Go to AWM Trip Advisor
  • Go to AWM Instagram
  • Go to AWM Youtube

Footer

  • Memorial Articles
  • About
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Wartime Magazine
  • Donate Today

The Australian War Memorial

Treloar Crescent

Campbell ACT 2612

Australia

 

Opening Hours

10 am to 5 pm daily (except Christmas Day)

 

In preparation for the daily Last Post Ceremony,

galleries are progressively closed from 4 pm.

 

Public entrance via Fairbairn Avenue, Campbell ACT 2612

Book your ticket to visit: awm.gov.au/visit

 


Please enter a valid email address

Legal

  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Freedom of information

Copyright 2023 Australian War Memorial, Canberra. All rights reserved