Australian Staff Corps

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| branch = Army

| dates = 1920–83

| specialization = Administration and Training

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The Australian Staff Corps was a small corps of Regular Army officers who were trained in staff duties and who were largely responsible for the training of the Militia, Australia’s part-time military force, during the inter-war period and in the early years following the Second World War. Members of the corps were largely graduates of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.{{sfn|Grey|2008|p=141}}

History

The corps was established on 1 October 1920,{{sfn|Millbank|2004|p=7}} in the aftermath of the First World War following the demobilisation of the Australian Imperial Force, when Australia's part-time military forces were reorganised to re-assume the main responsibility for the nation's defences. As part of the reorganisation, it was decided to raise a force of two cavalry divisions and five infantry divisions with various supporting arms to be maintained through a mixture of voluntary and compulsory service. To oversee the training and planning for this force,{{sfn|Blaxland |2006|p=48}} the Australian Staff Corps was established, along with the Australian Instructional Corps (AIC); together these two corps replaced the previously existing Administrative and Instructional Staff (A & I Staff), which had been responsible for the organisation of the Australian Military Forces since the Federation of Australia in 1901. These personnel were posted to Militia units as part of a small Regular training and administration cadre.{{sfn|Millbank|2004|p=7}}{{sfn|Grey|2008|pp=123–143}}

The corps' personnel consisted of all officers, except quartermasters (who belonged to the AIC), holding substantive commissions within the Permanent Military Force assigned to the previously existing A & I Staff, the Royal Australian Artillery, the Royal Australian Engineers or the Australian Army Service Corps.{{cite web |url=http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-badges/patches/pmf.htm |title=Colour Patches: Permanent Military Forces 1921–1943 |work=Digger History |author=Harris, Ted |access-date=4 April 2015}}

In the post Second World War period, the strategic imperatives of the Cold War resulted in the Regular Army taking primacy over part-time forces, and the training of part-time soldiers moved towards a more centralised scheme. The raising of regular combat units, including infantry, with corps-specific training schools, negated the need for corps such as the AIC,{{sfn|Millbank|2004|pp=17–20}} or the Australian Staff Corps. Amidst these and other changes the Australian Staff Corps was finally removed from the Order of Precedence in 1983.{{#tag:ref|The corps was removed from the order of precedence listed in Regulation No. 68 of the Australian Military Regulations 1927 as amended by [http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F1997B00211 Statutory Rules 1983 No. 61] dated 17 May 1983.|group=Note}}

References

;Footnotes

;Citations

;Bibliography

{{cite book |last=Blaxland |first=John |title=Strategic Cousins: Australian and Canadian Expeditionary Forces and the British and American Empires |year=2006 |publisher=McGill-Queen’s University Press |location=Montreal, Quebec |isbn=9780773530355 }}
{{cite book | last=Grey | first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Grey | year=2008 | title=A Military History of Australia | edition=3rd | publisher=Cambridge University Press | location=Melbourne, Victoria | isbn=978-0-521-69791-0}}
{{cite journal |last=Millbank |first=Roland |title=Out of Empire: An Introduction to the Story of the Australian Instructional Corps, 1921–1955 |journal=Sabretache |volume=XLV |issue=4 |year=2004 |publisher=Military Historical Society of Australia |location=Garran, Australian Capital Territory |pages=5–20 |issn=0048-8933}}

External links

[https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL29182/ Staff Corps collar badge]

Category:Defunct Australian Army Corps

Category:Military units and formations established in 1920

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1983

Australian Staff Corps

History

References

Further reading

External links