The history of the Australian Army is the culmination of the Australian Army's predecessors and its 120-year modern history. The Army has its origins in the British Army and colonial military forces of the Australian colonies that were formed prior to the Federation of Australia. These were gradually united into federal units between 1899 and 1903; thus forming the beginning of the Australian Army. The colonial forces were combined and formed the basis of the new army, when the Commonwealth of Australia was founded on 1 January 1901. The modern history of the Army began with its founding at the start of the 20th century as the colonial armies were officially united as the Commonwealth Military Forces. In 1916 the title 'Australian Military Forces' was adopted and remained its official name until 1980, after which it became known as the Australian Army.
For more than 80 years after the establishment of the first British colony, the only professional soldiers in Australia were members of British regiments sent to garrison the continent. By the time that the garrisons were withdrawn in 1870, the six separate self-governing colonies in Australia already had their own separate, part-time reserve units, known as militia or "volunteers". Following economic hardships and subsequent industrial action that was broken up by the colonial forces, the Australian colonies became distrustful of permanent professional standing armies. They preferred a large citizen force and militia that was trained by a small professional force as a defence policy, compared to a large professional force that was supplemented by reserve forces, with this attitude lasting for an extensive period until the postwar period following World War II.Dennis et al 2008, p. 47.
The Australian Army has been involved in many international conflicts, including the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars, the occupation of Japan, the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and Borneo Confrontation, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Origins
In January 1788, following the arrival of the First Fleet, the accompanying New South Wales Marine Corps came ashore to become the first modern infantry on the Australian continent. This would start the more than 80 years of precedent that the only professional soldiers in Australia were members of British Army garrisons. The regiment was tasked with the stated purpose to protect the colonists and provide order to the Colony of New South Wales through policing and guarding the transported convicts. On 18 December 1791, the Marines were officially relieved of duty following their reinforcement by the New South Wales Corps (NSW Corps), more infamously known as the Rum Corps, in 1790. The new regiment was assisted by local 'loyal associations' – free settler militias formed in 1801 in response to fears of a convict uprising. Furthermore, the Governor's Body Guard of Light Horse was established in 1803 by the Governor of New South Wales from citizens of the colony. Following orders to establish a penal colony in what is now Tasmania, a company of the NSW Corps accompanied colonists to Van Dieman's Land. After a continued series of disobedient behaviour by the Rum Corps, including the infamous 'Rum Rebellion', the regiment was replaced by the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot in 1810; this would also coincide with the disbandment of the militias.
Amidst the colonisation of Australia, parts of the colonial forces participated in the Australian frontier wars, which were a period of conflicts and massacres against the population of Indigenous Australians. One of the most brutal episodes in this period of Australian history was in 1828, when the Governor of Van Diemen's Land declared martial law and initiated a conflict called the Black War that lasted until 1832.
The first conflicts in which large numbers of Australian-born soldiers fought overseas were the New Zealand Wars, between 1863 and 1872, although almost all of these—about 2,500 men—served in New Zealand colonial units, or the British Army. By the time that the garrisons were withdrawn in 1870, the six separate self-governing colonies in Australia already had their own separate, part-time reserve units, known as militia or "volunteers". The colonial governments began to raise professional artillery units, to staff coastal batteries. From 1877 onwards, the British sent officers to advise the colonies on defence matters, and in the early 1880s, the first inter-colonial defence conferences were held.
In 1885, the government of New South Wales sent an infantry battalion, with artillery and support units to the short-lived British campaign in Sudan. During the economic depression of the early 1890s, large-scale strikes in various colonies were met with governments mobilising and/or threatening to use militia against strikers. This was very unpopular and led to successful and historically-significant campaigns against the formation of standing, regular forces. The "two armies" system was established whereby the only infantry units would be militia, although permanent artillery and other support units remained. As Federation of the colonies approached, on 24 August 1899 the colonial artillery units were merged into the first Australian federal army unit.
Early conflicts
Boer War
Before Federation of Australia and the forming of the national army, the six self-governing and independent Australian colonial governments sent contingents to South Africa to serve in the Second Boer War. The first offer of 250 mounted troops came from the new colony of Queensland in July 1899, some months before the declaration of war.
The first arrivals of Australian troops was the First New South Wales Contingent which arrived in November 1899, after departing London. A detachment, sent from Australia in October 1899, was known as the Australian Regiment and was an infantry unit, made up mainly of volunteers from the Colonies of Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, who left on one ship for Cape Town. Due to the way the war developed, these troops were converted from infantry to mounted infantry.
Strong resistance from the Boer Afrikaner forces led to further recruiting in the Australian colonies. Known as Bushmen's Contingents, these soldiers were usually volunteers with horse-riding and shooting skills but no military experience. After Federation in 1901, eight Australian Commonwealth Horse battalions were sent.
Many of the Australian units had a short tour of duty and some were subject to restructuring. Later Australians transferred to, or enlisted into multinational units, such as the Bushveldt Carbineers, in which Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Hancock served, before their court martial and execution for alleged war crimes.
Australian units served at many notable actions, including the relief of Mafeking, Sunnyside, Slingersfontein, Pink Hill, the Relief of Kimberley, Paardeburg, Bloemfontein, the Siege of Eland's River, Rhenosterkop and Haartebeestefontein. Australians were there for the capture of Johannesburg and were first into Pretoria. Later they participated at Diamond Hill.
In all, 16,175 Australians, with 16,314 horses, served in the Boer War; 251 were killed in action, 267 died of other causes and 43 went missing in action. Six Victoria Crosses were awarded to Australians, five serving with Australian contingents and one serving with the South African Constabulary. Many Australians did more than one tour of duty and a number remained after the war and settled in-country; while others returned to Australia then returned to South Africa.
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion in China began in 1900, and a number of western nations—including many European powers, the United States, and Japan—soon sent forces as part of the China Field Force to protect their interests. In June, the British government sought permission from the Australian colonies to dispatch ships from the Australian Squadron to China with Naval Brigade reservists, who had been trained in both ship handling and soldiering to fulfil their coastal defence role. The colonies dispatched 200 men from Victoria, 260 from New South Wales and the South Australian ship HMCS Protector, under the command of Captain William Creswell. Amongst the naval contingent from New South Wales were 200 naval officers and sailors and 50 soldiers headquartered at Victoria Barracks, Sydney who originally enlisted for the Second Boer War. The soldiers were keen to go to China but refused to be enlisted as sailors. The NSW Naval Brigade objected to having soldiers in their ranks. The Army and Navy compromised and titled the contingent the NSW Marine Light Infantry.Nicholls 1986, pp. 32–33.
Formation As the Boer War raged, the Commonwealth of Australia was founded on 1 January 1901. On 1 March, 28,923 colonial soldiers, being 1,457 professional soldiers, 18,603 paid militia and 8,863 unpaid volunteers, were transferred to the new Australian Army. However, the individual units continued to be administered under the various colonial Acts. Major General Sir Edward Hutton, a former commander of the New South Wales Military Forces, became the first commander of the Commonwealth Forces' on 26 December and set to work devising an integrated structure for the new army. The Defence Act 1903 brought all of the units under one piece of legislation; more significantly, it prevented the raising of standing infantry units and specified that militia forces could not be used in industrial disputes, and could not serve outside Australia. The vast majority of soldiers remained in militia units, now known as the Citizen Military Forces (CMF). In 1911, two significant changes followed a report by Lord Kitchener: the Royal Military College, Duntroon was established and; a system of universal national service began: boys aged 12 to 18 became cadets, and men aged 18–26 had to serve in the CMF.
First World War
Following the declaration of war on Germany by the United Kingdom, which began the British Empire's entry into the First World War, the Australian government committed to the war effort without hesitation. This was considered to be expected by the Australian public, because of the very large number of British-born citizens and first generation Anglo-Australians at the time. By the end of the war, almost 20% of those who served in the Australian forces had been born in the United Kingdom, even though nearly all enlistments had occurred in Australia.
Because the existing Citizens Forces were unable to serve overseas, an all-volunteer expeditionary force, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was formed on 15 August 1914 with a pledge to supply 20,000 men. It was organised as one infantry division and one light horse brigade plus supporting units, with its first commander being Major General William Bridges, who also assumed direct command of the infantry division.
However, the first target for Australian action was close to home, seizing German colonial outposts in the south-west Pacific and New Guinea. The 2000-man force assembled for this purpose, known as the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), landed near Rabaul on 11 September 1914 and after some fighting, the German garrison surrendered on 21 September.
Departing from Western Australia on 1 November 1914, the AIF was sent initially to British-controlled Egypt, to pre-empt any attack by the Ottoman Empire, and with a view to opening another front against the Central Powers. The AIF had four infantry brigades with the first three making up the 1st Division. The 4th Brigade was joined with the sole New Zealand infantry brigade to form the New Zealand and Australian Division.