Chapter 8
The Corps in Victoria
Victorian Ordnance, Commissariat and Transport Corps
Authorisation of a military organisation in 1886 to provide supply and transport support to the Victorian Military Forces was approached as a tentative and experimental step. As noted in Chapter 1, the motive was economy, and it was carried out with economy and caution. Not only was the initial establishment cover all Militia, but also all the members of the Victorian Ordnance, Commissariat and Transport Corps were held on the Artillery rolls except for camps, when they passed to the control of the Defence Force Head-Quarters Commissariat Staff which was established at the beginning of that year, headed by no coincidence by Assistant Commissary-General W.M. Cairncross who commanded the Corps as an honorary major and also headed up the Ordnance Branch of the Ministry of Defence as Controller of Naval and Military Stores; the warrant officer to represent the weapons and munitions element of the Corps also came from the Ordnance Department 1. There was no real suggestion of this action being an innovative move towards operational support for mobile operations, but it was a start in which Victorian Military Forces Commandant Col T.R. Disney was prepared to allocate priority of resources to this function, which no other colony had been prepared to do.
The initial establishment of 23 included two officers, one sergeant major, four sergeants, five corporals and 11 privates of assorted appropriate trades. The Ordnance warrant officer was not shown on strength in the Defence Reports, being held in the Ordnance Department, but a Permanent staff sergeant was, although he was not authorised in the Regulations for the Victorian Military Forces, being provided for an initial period only to help get the Corps off the ground. The OCT Corps had its first members posted on 21 January 1887 and was immediately employed in support of the 1887-88 annual Military Force training at Laverton and Langwarrin Camps where, with a strength of 20, their 'value to the Commissariat Department' was noted. This continued the following year as 'useful work in a satisfactory manner' 2. Having got the Corps established, Cairncross passed command to the second officer, Capt J. McCallum who took over on promotion to major. Cairncross moved to the Reserve of Officers, but remained as Controller of Naval and Military Stores, also retaining responsibility for rail transport, which formed the backbone of the movements system for the Victorian Defence Force 3.
Victorian Commissariat and Transport Corps
The work of the Corps was sufficiently satisfactory to attract an expansion on 7 October 1889 to 64 members by the inclusion of 40 drivers who were, however, restricted to employment during annual camp and four night parades only. Parades for other than drivers were authorised at six full and 20 half days, and 45 night drills on pay. Annual rates carried a premium within the Force to attract the ready-made skills needed, ranging from major £48, captain £36 to private £12, and their horses £50. Also at this date the Ordnance stores responsibility was removed, the Ordnance elements transferred out and the title reduced to Commissariat and Transport Corps: the Commissariat terminology was too ingrained in the culture to permit a rapid move to the ASC title 4. By 1890, as the Corps strength and structure could not cope with the three separate camps supported at Langwarrin, Lancefield Junction and the Heads, an increase of three lieutenants and 15 privates to a total of 79 was approved for the following camp 5, where the Corps was reported as efficient, producing rations which were 'the best ever supplied'. Notwithstanding this success, economic cut-backs brought about the termination of the camp-only driver establishment, camps having to be supported with hired transport; the core establishment now stood at 39 6.
Difficult times came on the Corps from 1892 as the growing depression forced men to leave Melbourne in search of work, with the consequent loss of effective soldiers from the unit. It was recognised that there was no point in making good the losses by indiscriminate transfers or recruiting – that this deficiency needed 'specially selected men' and by 1894 the vacancies had been filled by 'men of the right stamp’ 7.
Victoria followed New South Wales' lead of over a year earlier by changing the name to the Victorian Army Service Corps on 23 March 1895 8. The change was not accompanied by any change in role, simply following the trend in UK and NSW. It was also accompanied by depression-budget cutbacks which reduced the Corps by 23 privates to 16, and although this was quickly recognised as a false economy in an organisation raised to effect economies, it was not so quickly reversed: the dissavings came out of another area of the Defence Department's budget, while the savings were to the credit of the Army manpower vote, a sleight of hand so often repeated in future Commonwealth dealings. The positions were not restored until 1896 9.
Maj G.W. Watson had now taken command, a position which he held into the Commonwealth AASC. The following years' Defence Reports showed the Corps at full strength and commended for its zeal, efficiency and willingness to 'work night and day' supporting camps at Ballarat, Langwarrin, Bittern, Richmond and the Heads: the groundwork for the future tradition of service was being laid. By this stage, more favourable economic times and increasing work pressures enabled an expansion of one quartermaster sergeant and 10 privates to a total of 50, but still without the recommended restoration of the drivers. This establishment was carried over to the Commonwealth Military Forces 10 but the reality in manning was something less.
In the interregnum until Maj Gen Hutton took control of the ex-colonial forces at the beginning of 1902 the Victorian ASC is cited at a strength of 30, a figure which persisted, by either clerical or recruiting inertia, through 1902 and 1903, however the 1903 figure is alternatively recorded as 51 at 30 June 1903 11. This level had been demonstrated previously as insufficient to cope with even the routine training camp support, and although the ASC's past performance had been both effective and enthusiastic, Victoria's Commandants had not pressed for the ASC to be recognised as having an important and unavoidable field force role as had been the case in NSW. Hutton described it as 'a nucleus’ against his plan for field force and garrison supply and transport components. His plan for Victoria, which is included in Appendix 3, provided for two light horse and one infantry brigade supply columns – a total war establishment of 255, of which only 2 Inf Sup Col was to be raised immediately, and that on a restricted basis of 38 militia members using the existing Victorian ASC complement. In addition, two garrison troops detachments of 10 each were to be raised to support the Melbourne garrison and the Forts, these in practice being combined into Victorian Garrison Company. Both supply column and garrison company were up to strength in 1905, remaining at about those levels 12 until the expansion to the full original Hutton plan levels a decade later sparked further recruitment, the only interim establishment variation being that from Supply Column to 2 Inf T&S Col in 1907, without any change to manning.
As a preliminary to the Universal Training scheme, and the budget allocation which it generated, authority for the full Hutton plan was granted in 1911, giving Victoria the go ahead for 3 LH T&S CoI and 4 LH T&S Col. While this was perilously close to the first influx of trainees the following year, the hastily expanded three columns and garrison company at least gave some basis to build the five companies required in 1912: 3 and 4 LH T&S Cols becoming 28 and 30 Coys in support of 5th and 7th Light Horse Brigades; 2 Inf T&S Col and Victorian Garrison Company forming 13, 15 and 19 Coys for 13th, 15th and 16th Infantry Brigades, all companies based in Melbourne. Further expansion resulted in 14 Coy being raised in Melbourne in 1913 and 18 Coy at Ballarat the following year 13. Compared with NSW's easy transition, Victoria's AASC had a severe test in expanding from a base of two and a half units to seven inside three years while maintaining support to growing brigades. Some substantial assistance was available from the Director of Supply and Transport and his assistant who were also nominated as instructors of AASC in 3 MD; subsequently Capt M.McD. Lyons was reposted from Sydney to Melbourne as ADS&T in 1913 where, with his staff, he was responsible to assist Militia training as well as being a national Inspector AASC. It was needed. While the pre-1912 units were involved in support of the traditional camps of three brigades and garrison troops at The Heads, Lancefield Junction and Langwarrin, extending later to Seymour and Kilmore, there were now additional full brigade camps and detachments held at Burrumbeet, Wallan, Heidelberg, Lilydale and Bundoora 14. And while the fighting units trained, the AASC companies had to work the difficult duo of training technically and tactically while also providing live support to the camps. Reports of the Inspector General are scathing of the lack of basic skills and the inability to progress while so much reliance was placed on contractors for support. These deficiencies are fairly understandable for recently raised units with newly promoted officers and NCOs, struggling to operate with hired wagons and a full support workload on top of their liability for basic infantry, mounted and technical training, while still having to meet the requirement for advanced tactical training in the field. Some amelioration was effected by channelling appropriate tradesmen from the universal trainees into these units, and directing brigade and unit commanders to pay attention to integrating AASC units into their field exercises, but it was obvious that only a period of stability and accumulated experience could convert 16 days training a year into fully operative field units 15.
While such a period of stability could have occurred if the Universal Training scheme had proceeded unhindered, the outbreak of war in August 1914 drew a large proportion of older and more experienced members of the companies into the AIF units. Victoria raised for the First Contingent 3 Coy and parts of 1 Coy and the Headquarters of 1 Div Train; part of 9 Coy, 1st Division's motorised supply column; and part of 13 Coy. In addition Lt-Col W.H. Tunbridge CB, Commanding Officer of AASC in Victoria, who had commanded the Australian troops in the siege at Elands River in South Africa in 1900, was sent to Sydney to raise 8 Coy; after initial command of that unit and subsequently I Anzac Corps MT, he finally became Director of MT Service of the AIF in UK and France, controlling all mechanical transport of not only AASC units but also that of siege park, divisional ammunition columns and medical units.
Subsequently during 1915 Victoria provided 12 Coy (3 LH Bde Train), 18 Coy (8 Inf Bde Train, Iater of 5 Div Train), part of 19 and 21 Coys for 2nd Division's Lines of Communication slice, and HQ l Remount Unit and its 1 and 2 Sqns. In 1916 22 Coy (of 3 Div Train) was despatched and in 1917 contributions to 1, 2, and 3 Aux MT Coys which were raised in Victoria with quotas from each state. In addition significant numbers of reinforcements from the State and reallocations of Victorians from other corps in Europe and the Middle East found their way into various AASC units. Included in 12 Coy was Lt J. Rogers VC who had won his Victoria Cross as a sergeant in the South African Constabulary in 1901; he was severely wounded on Gallipoli 16.
Carriage of the strain of supporting the preparation and dispatch of AIF contingents fell heavily on the ADS&T staff. Lyons lost his assistant WO H.E. Heydt immediately on mobilisation when the latter became Acting DST on Army Head-Quarters. Victoria had not only to organise, house, feed and move its own contribution, but also was the concentration area for interstate units and the main shipping point. This was not simply for the AASC units but all elements of the contingents, as AASC was additionally responsible for quartering, cooking, canteens and land and sea movement – unchanged since the initial imperial Commissariat. That this whole exercise was achieved with minuscule resources says volumes for the initiative and effort of the members concerned, and the cooperation received from the Militia, which had its own problems as its experienced members joined the AIF. An additional aid was built up in 3 MD MT Depot under command of Lt D. Detmould, comprising at its peak 33 members – 19 home service and 14 MT reinforcements of the AIF, operating 11 cars, six lorries and 17 ambulances. Cessation of recruiting AIF MT drivers in Australia in 1917 in favour of training in UK curtailed that source of drivers for the unit, and a critical report by a royal commission on misuse of cars by headquarters staff brought their reduction and the depot transferred to Army Head-Quarters control in March 1917. The end of the war brought further pressure on manning, which survived on civilian drivers until funds were withdrawn in 1923, resulting in closing down the unit and a reversion to horse transport 17.
The drain from the Militia to the AIF, while variable, progressively eroded experience levels, counter-balanced to a degree by those conscripts who declined to give in to pressures to volunteer, and the benefit of those returning unfit from the front who could be used as instructors. In 1915 an additional 17 Coy was raised at Bendigo to serve that area, but it was not until the tailing off of the war in late 1918 that there were net increases in the size of the Militia. To cope, in 1919 there was a renumbering and expansion which placed 3, 10, 12, 22, 28, 29 and 30 Coys in Melbourne, 9 Coy in Bendigo and 18 Coy at Ballarat; a second round the following year saw this change to 4, 5, 70, 12, 13, 22, 28, 29 and 30 Coys for Melbourne, 9 Coy Bendigo, and 18 and 36 Coys located at Ballarat – mostly changes of title rather than physical transfers, with some additional units 18. The Kitchener Army had reached its zenith while a war passed it by.
With the termination of the AIF on April Fools' Day 1921 came the Militia mirror of the AIF's divisions. Victoria shared the major units with NSW receiving 2 Cav Div, 3 Div and 4 Div Trains, less the 4 Coy of each of the former and latter which were located in South Australia. The whole of the Victorian-based units was located in Melbourne, a move which facilitated training but also one which was to be an increasing limitation on recruits with experience in horse handling. The defence cuts of 1922 reduced manning levels to one quarter of war establishments, but then so were the supported troops. Restructuring to the RASC motorised establishments from 1928 saw the raising of divisional transport companies – but horsed, not MT: 2 Cav Div HT Coy, 3 Div HT Coy and 4 Div HT Coy. In this interim phase the four divisional companies lost their transport and were temporarily renamed A, B, C and D with a Depot Supply Section raised for each division, but by 1930 the companies and Depot Section were consolidated into a single divisional supply company: 2 Cav Div Sup Coy, 3 Div Sup Coy and 4 Div Sup Coy; the fourth sections of each of 2 Cav Div and 4 Div Sup Coys and HT Coys remained in South Australia. From an initial allocation of one lorry to 2nd Cavalry Division in 1925, a belated acceptance of the unavoidability of motorisation resulted in the horse transport companies being renamed MT companies in 1934, though only a token three lorries were available to each for training purposes, and they remained horse transport units for all practical purposes. Intervention by the CGS three years later brought the reamalgamation of the transport and supply units into supply columns and ammunition companies for each of the divisions, each now having its integral transport: 2 Cav Div Sup Col and 2 Cav Div Amn Coy; 3 Div Sup Col and 3 Div Amn Coy; 4 Div Sup Col and 4 Div Amn Coy. B and E Sections of 2 Cav Div Sup Col were in Queensland, C Sec 4 Div Amn Coy in South Australia 19.
These long years of under-manning, under-equipping and separation of the supplies and transport functions were also, even more than in NSW, ones of entrenched commanding officers monopolising office and compounding the effects of slow promotion and low incentive. Lt-Col J.S. Keleher held sway at 2 Cav Div for 10 years, Lt-Col D.D. Paine OBE at 3 Div for 14 years and Lt-Col F.L. Henley DSO OBE at 4 Div for 13. Fortunately a new generation in Lt-Cols H.M. Frencham, J.S. Shaw and J.A. Watson replaced them in the later 1930s 20.
A Permanent S&T Section incorporating the existing Remount Section and Horse Transport Section under control of the ADS&T was included in 1921 as part of 3rd District Base. The transport was based at Sturt St South Melbourne, while the Remount Section operated 6, 7 and 8 Remount Depots at Maribyrnong, Sturt St and Albert Park. The ADS&T position was filled consistently, first by Capt W.M. Algie from 1922-25, then Maj W.W. Tracey to 1936, Lt then Capt A.J. Hudson 1936-40. The intention to procure motor vehicles and establish a supply section brought the positions of DADT(MT) and DADS in 1927, filled by a succession of Militia officers, but it was not until 1930 that plans for some growth in the S&T Permanent element were given real impetus with the establishment of 2 MT Sec under Capt E.M. Dollery MC as OC and SO MT Training. The Section was expanded in 1934 to 2 MT Coy at Coventry St Depot, then to Wadey St the following year, under first Capt E.A. McKewan, then Maj W. Randle until 1940, having been redesignated 3 Dist MT Depot two years earlier. It had taken under command 2 Tank Sec and its Permanent AASC cadre, reaching a strength of 51 before splitting to provide the nuclei of 3rd Mechanisation Depot at Puckapunyal and reserve motor transport companies. A Supply Section had been added in 1934, co-located with the remounts in the Sturt St Depot 21.
Initial moves in procuring a few lorries and gun tractors, and the decision that AASC should be the training authority, resulted in the realisation of the ASC School, first authorised in 1902, in a more concrete way than the periodic courses conducted in each state which had followed then. After a temporary school with Capt R.T.A. McDonald and members of his S&T Staff from Army Head-quarters was formed to conduct occasional courses from 1925, the ASC and Q Administrative School was established in 1928 at the Sturt St Depot with McDonald as first Chief Instructor then in specially built quarters at Victoria Barracks in 1930 under Maj E.A. Wilton DSO, followed in 1932 by Capt F.L. Coldwell Smith MVO MC with Dollery and Lt A.A. Brown as instructors of the MT Wing. The unit was renamed ASC Training School, still not recognising its Australian-ness, in 1935 with Maj A.P.O. White as Chief Instructor. This lasted until the 1940 move to Geelong, mobilisation MT courses operating at Broadmeadows until relocated to Fishermens Bend 22.
On the outbreak of war in September 1939 the Militia units went into extended camp training and elements of the 6th Division of the Second AIF were raised in Victoria. HQ 6 Div AASC under Lieut-Col N.B. Loveridge was established in the St Kilda Road Depot, moving in December to join up with 6 Div Amn Coy and 6 Div Pet Coy training at Puckapunyal; these units were formed with the addition of state quotas from South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. Further units for the follow up divisions raised for overseas service were 7 Div Sup Coln and 1 Corps Pet Park at Puckapunyal in May 1940, 8 Div Pet Coy in Melbourne in July, and 2 Armd Bde coy for 1st Armoured Division in December 1941 23.
The Militia divisions were called up again for full time duty in response to the Japanese threat, with HQ 2 Cav Div and its Sup Coln, Amn Coy and Pet Coy at Geelong, HQ 3 Div AASC and units at Seymour and HQ 4 Div AASC and units at Balcombe; the corps troops role was filled by S Comd Amm Coy and Pet Coy plus 107, 111 and 114 Res MT Coys. This meant that nearly half of the home defence divisions were protecting the Melbourne area, an allocation which may have been relevant to the industrial-population significance of southern Victoria, but hardly one which related to the relative strategic vulnerability of the Commonwealth as a whole. Belated recognition of this in March 1942 brought a restructuring which in Victoria changed Headquarters Home Forces Command to Headquarters 2nd Army, the force left for it to command being merely 2nd Motor Division, converted from 2nd Cavalry Division and even that soon disbanded, plus some miscellaneous units. Headquarters Southern Command became Headquarters 2nd Corps covering Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania with virtually no units: 4th Division was transferred to 3rd Corps in Western Australia, 3rd Division was preparing for movement to New Guinea, and Headquarters Victorian L of C Area was raised to command the base structure, its AASC units through a DDST Staff under Lieut-Col L.T. Maplestone. The field force AASC was revamped several times, ending in 1943 in the brick reorganisation as HQ CAASC 2 Army Tps, 16 Coy, 134, 135, 136 GT Coys, 43, 44, 45 Sup Dep Pls; HQ CAASC 2 Corps Tps and its ammunition, supply and petrol companies; and HQ CAASC 2 Corps Tpt Coln with 129-133 GT Coys 24. 2nd Corps was moved north to command some real divisions, but the reality of 2nd Army was called into question politically as it commanded no more than training organisations. Blamey defended the indefensible empire vigorously, and it remained until the end of the war with AASC field force units supporting phantom field force formations.
Motor transport needs of the Militia had been met by an initial purchase and by hiring. The purchased vehicles ended up with 6th Division, so hirings had to be increased, effected by 5, 6, 10 and 11 Vehicle Collection Centres at Moonee Valley Racecourse, Seymour, Bendigo and Ballarat, which turned them over for fitment and issue by 3 MD Vehicle Reception Depot at Victoria Barracks. These units continued to operate, changing to impressment-purchase of vehicles from September 1940, until AASC relinquished the role in October 1942 when the units were disbanded. Some areas remained on horse transport for domestic purposes through the war, 6 Aux HT Coy operating at Puckapunyal and 7 Aux HT Coy from Sturt St Depot with detachments at outstations. General transport needs were met by 102, 104, 119 and 120 Res Tpt Coys, 3 Amb Car Coy detachments providing ambulance services to the military general, specialist and camp hospitals. BSDs Dysart and Tottenham issued to 3, 6 and 13 Sup Pers Coys at Seymour-Bendigo, Melbourne and Albury, supported by detachments of 6 and 7 Fd Bkys and a section of 6 Fd Bch Coy, while 4 BSD Bandiana filled a national procurement and stockholding function. Petroleum products were supplied by 3 MD BIPOD.
With the mid-1943 brick restructuring the reserve transport companies were replaced by 118, 119 and 120 GT Coys and the supply units by 2 SRD, 3 BSD and 20, 21 and 22 Sup Dep Coys, commanding between them 129-159 and 164-168 Sup Dep Pls. The remount service continued from 6 and 7 Remount Depots, the Remount Section and 3 MD Rmt Tp being merged into 5 Rmt Sqn in 1942. By the beginning of 1944 the AASC in Victoria was deployed in support of the varied disposition of the myriad base establishments of headquarters, hospitals, camps, depots, workshops, terminals and schools, spread through 70 locations with a total strength of nearly 4,000, including the 73 AWAS in 3 Amb Car Coy 25.
Basic and technical training of AASC members was effected by 3 AASC Trg Dep commanding 5, 6 and 7 AASC Trg Coys conducting recruit training and specialist transport, supplies, clerical and air dispatch courses. In addition the specialised needs of the Corps and general users had spawned a range of specialised schools: the AASC Training School moved to Geelong in 1940, establishing an MT wing at Fishermens Bend, becoming the LHQ AASC School in 1943 and transferring to Narellan near Sydney at the end of the war; there was 3 MT Trade Training Centre at Caulfield and the School of Army Mechanisation at Geelong; and the William Angliss Food Technology School operated for supplies technical training at Caulfield 26.
A significant element of the AASC in Victoria comprised the Directorate of Supplies and Transport. From slim beginnings of five staff officers headed by Lieut-Col B.M. Morris DSO at the beginning of the war, it came to control an empire spending a high percentage of the Army's budget and 12 percent of its manpower, in the process creating specialist cells with a staff of 47 officers to deal with transport, impressment, foodstuffs, petroleum, workshops contracts, inspection of depots, organisation, training and catering. Located at Albert Park, its tentacles reached out to both base and field force units at home and abroad. The Supplies and Transport Service was, however, an empire too disparate and widespread to keep full control of, as much as later DST R.T.A. McDonald tried. The needs or rather the demands of both operational and home areas were insatiable, Land Headquarters was 'organised chaos if such a state is possible' and 'the only lunatic asylum run by the inmates', and the staff too few to do other than solve problems as they arose. The Service worked, but the combined demands of endemic empire building and real operational needs of the Army as a whole made it a testing task operating on the margin, as testified by reports on staff visits by the DST and the subsequent necessary remedial action 27.
After the run down of the wartime forces, the Interim Army leftovers in Victoria comprised 103 Sup Pl at Miles St and 103 Tpt Pl at Wadey Street South Melbourne providing basic support to the residual installations in the area. With the raising of the Regular Army and re-establishment of the Citizen Military Forces on 1 January 1948 came the beginnings of a wide range of both divisional and lines of communication units. The small Regular component accommodated little beyond the basic infrastructure of a paper-strength brigade group, which included 1 Tpt Coy formed from 168 GT Coy on its return from Japan at Puckapunyal in 1948. Renamed 1 Coy RAASC in 1950, the unit's practical function was for the conduct of Corps training of recruits, as demonstration unit for the RAASC School, and as workhorse in Puckapunyal area, the latter magnified with the establishment of National Service training battalions at Puckapunyal in 1951. The same imperative also brought the raising of 109 Sup Dep Pl at Puckapunyal and, to support the Ordnance-RAEME complex at Bandiana, 108 Sup Dep Pl and 108 Tpt Pl, while 103 Tpt Coy provided transport in Melbourne for Headquarters Southern Command, Army Headquarters and metropolitan units 28.
The CMF field force began with a limited range of units based on 3rd Division – 3 Div Coln comprising the headquarters, 6, 7 and 9 Tpt Coys, and a range of minor lines of communication units - butchery, bakery, cold storage and port platoons located in South Melbourne. A second wave accompanied the National Service expansion: HQ 6 Tpt Coln at Ballarat, commanding 23, 24, 33 and 36 Coys at Ararat, Ballarat, Colac and Horsham; HQ 7 Sup Gp at Sandringham commanding expanded supply units including 7 SRD and 125 Sup Dep Coy at Albury; 116 Coy and 36, 38 Arty Pls were in Melbourne, while 3 Div Coln companies were renamed as 6, 7, and 9 Coys RAASC, reverting to the original nomenclature of the two world wars which recognised their dual field functions. The structure was then subject to progressive changes of name and location in succeeding years, which amply lived up to the Corps reputation for this, successfully destroying any longer term territorial affiliations, and once more consigning distinguished units to oblivion. By 1960, 6 Coy was at Bendigo-Marysborough, HQ CRAASC 3 Div, 7 and 15 Coys at Coburg. In 6 Tpt Coln 23 Coy became 46 Coy, which was then absorbed into 36 Coy, and 33 Coy moved to South Melbourne, then Coburg and back to South Melbourne. 7 Sup Gp and 125 Sup Dep Coy were absorbed into 45 Sup Coy in 1960; 2 BSD, 3 CSD and 3 SRD and 7 SRD were progressively raised and disbanded. By 1965 the centre of gravity swung to South Melbourne, as it had forty years before, with both HQ CRAASC 3 Div (6 Coy, 7 Coy at Coburg) and HQ 6 Tpt Colm (15 and 33 Coys, 36 Coy at Horsham). The CMF supplies units were absorbed into 3 Sup Dep except 6 Pet Pl which was first raised as a supplementary reserve unit under sponsorship of BP Australia, then became a CMF unit as part of 6 Tpt Colm. There was by now little breadth and depth of units left to match the communication zone support requirements of the division 29.
Within the Regular Army Victoria continued its wartime role of providing logistics bases and training centres, and until 1960 remained the home of Army Headquarters, stretching back to 1854 in the imperial period. The RAAOC-RAEME school-depot-workshop complex at Bandiana attracted 428 Tpt Pl and 126 Sup Dep Pl. The Armoured Centre, three National Service training battalions and RAASC School at Puckapunyal were supported by 109 Sup Dep Pl, with transport support from 398 Tpt Pl, both combined in 1971 into 103 S&T Coy. Resident field force unit 25 Coy was replaced by 26 Coy on its return from Vietnam in 1971 in order to keep, in a rare and commendable exercise of continuity, a unit with recent operational service on the order of battle albeit at the expense of an equally distinguished one. In the Port Phillip area the Staff College, Officer Cadet School, Apprentices School and Schools of Signals and of Army Health were supported by 103 Tpt Coy and 3 Sup Dep. Central procurement of supplies was effected by the Central Procurement Agency (Foodstuffs) in Melbourne, which sought to maximise national bulk buying for the Army to even supply purchases and save costs. 3 Sup Dep, a mixed ARA/CMF unit became a major national procurement and distribution depot for both normal items and combat ration packs 30. Overall direction of the Supplies and Transport Service and units in Victoria was intended to be exercised by the CRAASC S Comd, as had been intended ever since the establishment of an ADS&T in 1913. This was effective until the restructuring of 1965 when the CMF columns were placed, with other logistics units, under an amorphous CMF 2nd Support Group, and although later CRAASCs continued some assistance by agreement, the sting went out of the effective control and training supervision which had been exercised by a full time headquarters and commander specifically knowledgeable and interested in the RAASC units.
This had indeed been an era of change. While there had been significant changes to the overall field force Order of Battle and recruiting base, it is hard to match these with many of the petty changes which occurred to both ARA and CMF units, the onus for which must rest with lack of appreciation of the effects of unnecessary change by the Directorate. The lack of a strong unit tradition in the Corps lies substantially with those who made no effort to retain continuity and a clear lineage for units which had distinguished themselves in war and peace over 86 years. This post-war period had at least matched earlier periods of meaningless change, but the Corps had managed well enough despite it all. The soldiers of RAASC assembled at Puckapunyal on 3 June 1973 for a final assembly to symbolically join RACT or RAAOC in a parade before Governor of Victoria Sir Rohan Delacombe. The occasion, regardless of any undertones, was one for pride: for all the change, they had indeed been equal to the task.
Footnotes
2. V&P Vic LA 1887 No 74 and Table B; 1888 No 80 Defence Reports.
3. Victoria Army and Navy List 1887; General Order L4/89.
4. Victoria Government Gazette 11 October 1889, p3835; also' for the horses, V&P Vic LA 1887 No 72 Regulations Pt IV s.1.
5. V&P Vic LA 1891 No 132 Defence Report.
6. V&P Vic LA 1892 No 112 Defence Report.
7. V&P Vic LA 1893 No 39, 1894 No 87 Defence Reports.
8. General Order 44 of 23 March 1895.
9. V&P Vic LA 1895-6 No 63, 1897 No 38 Defence Reports.
10. V&P Vic LA 1898 No 38, 1898-9 No 39, 1899-1900 No 31 Defence Reports.
11. See Table 1; also CPP 1903 vol II Departmental Estimates, p148.
12. See Table 1.
13. MO 2/1911, 428/1912, 109/1913, 1/1914.
14. MO 622/12, 90/1907, 75/1911, 57/1912, 650/1912, 555/1913.
15. CPP 1912 vol II Kirkpatrick Report, p16; 1913 vol II Kirkpatrick Report, p12, 20.
16. Lindsay N.R. 'Early AASC Leaders' Portraits of Queensland Soldiers; Report upon the Department of Defence 1914-1918 Part l, p73-4, 76; Wigmore L. et al They Dared Mightily, p25-6.
17. Report on DOD Part 1, p294-296; AA A2023 E21/8/5; AA MP367/1 631/1/132; CPP 1914-7 vol 2 Business Report, p11.
18. MO 1/1915, 150/1919, 103/1920.
19. CYB 1927-38; Amy List 1921-38; AA MP729/6 37/401/79 QMG Minute Appendix Z and CGS Minute.
21. Army List 1920-40; AA B1535 763/2/63 QMG on Military Board Agendum 2/321; AA MP729/6 37/401/79 QMG Minute Appendix Z; PMF Establishments 1939-40, p11-12.
22. AAO 501/26, 358/28, 53/1934; Army List 1925-39.
23. AWM 52 10/2/23; AA MP729/7 37/421/458, 37/421/447.
24. 'The Military Forces of Victoria' Annex B to Chapter 9; Army ORBAT December 1941, October 1942-June 1943; AWM 54 199/2/5 Maintenance Organisation September 1941 Appendix A, p3.
25. 'The Military Forces of Victoria' Annex B to Chapter 9; AWM A254 703/5/4 Army ORBAT 1942 AASC.
26. AWM 52 10/43/3, 10/43/9, 10/43/10, 10/43/15.
27. Stanton Hicks C. Who Called the Cook a Bastard p88; for an example of reports see AWM 54 431/13/6 DST Report on Visit to New Guinea 2-19 May 1943.
28. ‘The Military Forces of Victoria', Annex B to Chapter 9.
29. AWM 54 703/5/1 Army ORBAT 1948; AWM 51 146 Army ORBAT 1948/49; 'Military Forces of Victoria' Annex B to Chapter 9.