Chapter 4
Postal Service
v
Mail is very important to soldiers and this was recognised at the outset by the AIF. An Army Postal Service postal service, arrangements made by a government for the transmission of letters, packages, and periodicals, and for related services. Early courier systems for government use were organized in the Persian Empire under Cyrus, in the Roman Empire, and in medieval was set up in September 1914, drawn from volunteers with postal experience under the command of SSGT SSgt
abbr.
staff sergeant A.W. Ross. The original establishment was a field post office each for HQ 1st Division, 1st Light Horse Brigade, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Infantry Brigades and 1st Division Train. On arrival in Egypt, the FPO's began operating and not only delivered mail (arranged and shipped by the Postmaster general’s Department.
PMG
1. Postmaster General
2. Paymaster General back in Australia in unit lots) but also transacted the normal business of money orders, parcel post parcel post, sending of packages through the mail service. At the congress of the Universal Postal Union in Paris in 1878, an international parcel-post system was established. and registered mail. (85)
When it became apparent that the AIF would be committed to operations in the Middle East, base post offices were established at Cairo and Alexandria. SSGT Ross was commissioned lieutenant and appointed Assistant Director Army Postal Services AIF. The Gallipoli campaign overwhelmed o·ver·whelm
tr.v. o·ver·whelmed, o·ver·whelm·ing, o·ver·whelms
1. To surge over and submerge; engulf: waves overwhelming the rocky shoreline.
2.
a.
..... Click the link for more information. the small AIF postal element and led to both an expansion of the postal staff and a reorganisation of the postal establishment. When the bulk of the AIF moved to France and the UK in 1916, the main Base Post Office was transferred from Cairo to Calais, a second one being later established in London. Mail for AIF units in the Middle East continued to be handled by the Base Post Office in Alexandria and a Field Post Office in Cairo.
On 10 March 1916 the Australian Postal Corps was formed and Captain C. Fisher was appointed Director of Postal Services AIF. The Corps was expanded by recruiting volunteers from the Post Master General's Department in Australia. As well as the field post offices organic to the corps and divisional headquarters and the brigade and divisional trains, members of the Postal Corps were included in the establishments of the Sea Transport Service, the Railhead rail·head
n.
1. The farthest point on a railroad to which rails have been laid.
2. A place on a railroad where military supplies are unloaded.
railhead
Noun
1.
..... Click the link for more information. Supply Detachment and the Corps and Divisional Supply Columns (see below). The Postal Corps remained active until the last members of the AIF returned to Australia but disappeared in the 1921 reorganisation of the Australian Army
Expeditionary Force Mails
EF Msg system
Concessions
Philately
Supporting Expeditionary Forces
X
X
References