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The military history of Australia spans the nation's 230-year modern history, from the early Australian frontier wars between Aboriginals and Europeans to the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 21st century. Although this history is short when compared to that of many other nations, Australia has been involved in numerous conflicts and wars, and war and military service have been significant influences on Australian society and national identity, including the Anzac spirit. The relationship between war and Australian society has also been shaped by the enduring themes of Australian strategic culture and the unique security challenges it faces.
The six British colonies in Australia participated in some of Britain's wars of the 19th century. In the early 20th century, as a federated dominion and later as an independent nation, Australia fought in the First World War and Second World War, as well as in the wars in Korea, Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam during the Cold War. In the Post-Vietnam era Australian forces have been involved in numerous international peacekeeping missions, through the United Nations and other agencies, including in the Sinai, Persian Gulf, Rwanda, Somalia, East Timor and the Solomon Islands, as well as many overseas humanitarian relief operations, while more recently they have also fought as part of multi-lateral forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. In total, nearly 103,000 Australians died during these conflicts. (Full article...)
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Clare Grant Stevenson, AM, MBE (18 July 1903 – 22 October 1988) was the inaugural Director of the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), from May 1941 to March 1946. As such, she was described in 2001 as "the most significant woman in the history of the Air Force". Formed as a branch of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in March 1941, the WAAAF was the first and largest uniformed women's service in Australia during World War II, numbering more than 18,000 members by late 1944 and making up over thirty per cent of RAAF ground staff.
Born and educated in Victoria, Stevenson was an executive with the Berlei company when she was appointed Director WAAAF. Initially ranked squadron officer, she rose to become group officer by April 1942. Stevenson resumed her civilian career following her discharge from the Air Force in 1946. Long active in adult education and social welfare, she helped form aid organisations including the Carers Association of New South Wales (now Carers NSW) after retiring from Berlei in 1960. Stevenson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire and a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to the community and to female veterans. (Full article...)
Air MarshalSir George Jones, KBE, CB, DFC (18 October 1896 – 24 August 1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He rose from private soldier in World War I to air marshal in 1948, and served as Chief of the Air Staff from 1942 to 1952, the longest continuous tenure of any RAAF chief. Jones was a surprise appointee to the Air Force's top role, and his achievements in the position were coloured by a divisive relationship during World War II with his nominal subordinate, the head of RAAF Command, Air Vice-Marshal William Bostock.
During World War I, Jones saw action as an infantryman in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915, transferring to the Australian Flying Corps a year later. Originally a mechanic, he undertook flying training in 1917 and was posted to a fighter squadron in France. He achieved seven victories to become an ace, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After a short spell in civilian life following World War I, he joined the newly formed RAAF in 1921, and rose steadily through training and personnel commands prior to World War II. (Full article...)
Promoted to captain, Holden finished the war as an instructor with No. 6 (Training) Squadron in England, where his work earned him the Air Force Cross. After leaving the Australian Flying Corps in 1919, he became a manager at the family firm of Holden's Motor Body Builders and joined the part-time Citizen Air Force, before setting up as a commercial pilot and establishing his own air service. In 1929, he located Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm in the north-west Australian desert after the pair was reported missing on a flight to England in the Southern Cross. Holden began transport operations in New Guinea in 1931. He was killed the following year in a passenger plane crash in Australia. (Full article...)
The unit was re-established in February 1981 as a flight, equipped with two Boeing 707s for VIP and other long-range transport duties out of RAAF Base Richmond, New South Wales. No. 33 Flight was re-formed as a full squadron in July 1983. By 1988 it was operating six 707s, four of which were subsequently converted for aerial refuelling. The 707s saw active service during operations in Namibia, Somalia, the Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan. One of the transport jets was lost in a crash in October 1991. No. 33 Squadron relocated to Amberley and was temporarily without aircraft following the retirement of the 707s in June 2008. It began re-equipping with KC-30s in June 2011, and achieved initial operating capability with the type in February 2013. One of its aircraft was deployed to the Middle East in September 2014 as part of Operation Okra, Australia's contribution to the war against the Islamic State. The squadron maintained a KC-30 on Okra for the next six years, completing 1,440 air-to-air refuelling missions. (Full article...)
Described as a "small, dapper man", who was "outspoken, even 'cocky'", Hewitt overcame the setback to his career during the war and made his most significant contributions as Air Member for Personnel from 1945 to 1948. Directly responsible for the demobilisation of thousands of wartime staff and the consolidation of what was then the world's fourth largest air force into a much smaller peacetime service, he also helped modernise education and training within the RAAF. Hewitt was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1951, the same year he became Air Member for Supply and Equipment. Retiring from the military in 1956, he went into business and later managed his own publishing house. He wrote two books including Adversity in Success, a first-hand account of the South West Pacific air war, before his death in 1985 aged 84. (Full article...)
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Corporal Jørgen Jensen, August 1918
Jørgen Christian JensenVC (15 January 1891 – 31 May 1922) was a Danish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in battle that could be awarded to a member of the Australian armed forces. Jensen emigrated to Australia in 1909, becoming a British subject at Adelaide, South Australia, in 1914. A sailor and labourer before World War I, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in March 1915, serving with the 10th Battalion during the latter stages of the Gallipoli campaign. After the Australian force withdrew to Egypt, Jensen was transferred to the newly formed 50th Battalion, and sailed for France with the unit in June 1916. On the Western Front, he was wounded during the battalion's first serious action, the Battle of Mouquet Farm in August, and only returned to his unit in late January 1917. On 2 April, his battalion attacked the Hindenburg Outpost Line at Noreuil, where his actions leading to the capture of over fifty German soldiers resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross.
In June 1917, the 50th Battalion was involved in the Battle of Messines; the following month, Jensen, now a corporal, was posted to a training unit in the United Kingdom. He returned to his battalion in October, and was promoted to temporary sergeant in November. In March 1918, the German spring offensive was launched, and Jensen fought with his battalion at Dernancourt and Villers-Bretonneux. Shortly after the fighting at Villers-Bretonneux, Jensen was on patrol when he received a severe head wound, and was evacuated to the United Kingdom, then repatriated to Australia, where he was discharged in Adelaide at the end of the war. He worked as a marine store dealer and married in 1921, but died the following year, having never fully recovered from his war wounds. (Full article...)
Squadron Leader Cresswell as commanding officer of No. 77 Squadron, Darwin, December 1942
Richard Cresswell, DFC (27 July 1920 – 12 December 2006) was an officer and pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He held command of No. 77 (Fighter) Squadron twice during World War II, and again during the Korean War. Cresswell was credited with being the first RAAF pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft at night over Australian soil, the only man to serve as commanding officer of an RAAF squadron on three occasions during wartime, and the first officer to lead a jet-equipped Australian squadron in combat. His performance in Korea earned him both the Commonwealth and the US Distinguished Flying Crosses.
Born in Tasmania, Cresswell worked as an apprentice electrician before joining the RAAF in July 1938. He initially commanded No. 77 Squadron from April 1942 to August 1943, flying P-40 Kittyhawks in defence of Australia's North-Western Area against Japanese raiders. Cresswell claimed the squadron's first aerial victory—the first by an Australian over the mainland—in November 1942. He was wing leader of No. 81 (Fighter) Wing in New Guinea from May 1944 to March 1945, simultaneously commanding No. 77 Squadron for a second time between September and December 1944. In September 1950, during the Korean War, Cresswell took command of No. 77 Squadron in combat for the third time. He oversaw its conversion from P-51 Mustangs to Gloster Meteors, becoming the first RAAF commander of a jet squadron in war. As well as Meteors, Cresswell flew F-80 Shooting Star and F-86 Sabre jets in combat while on attachment to the United States Air Force in Korea. He handed over command of No. 77 Squadron for the last time in August 1951, but flew six more missions as a Meteor pilot in 1953. (Full article...)
The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation (Indonesian: Konfrontasi) was fought from 1962 to 1966 between the British Commonwealth and Indonesia. Indonesia, under President Sukarno, sought to prevent the creation of the new Federation of Malaysia that emerged in 1963, whilst the British Commonwealth sought to safeguard the security of the new state. The war remained a limited one however, and was fought primarily on the island of Borneo, although a number of Indonesian seaborne and airborne incursions into the Malay Peninsula did occur. As part of Australia's continuing military commitment to the security of Malaysia, Australian army, naval and air force units were based there with the Far East Strategic Reserve, mainly in the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group.
The Australian Government was initially reluctant to become involved in the conflict, and Australian forces did not see combat until 1964. Australia's involvement expanded in 1965, however, following repeated requests from the British Government with an Australian infantry battalion and special forces being deployed to Borneo where they were involved in a number of actions against Indonesian Army units. Other army units deployed included artillery batteries and engineers, both of which served tours in support of the infantry in Borneo. A number of RAN warships also patrolled the waters off Borneo and Malaysia to deter Indonesian infiltration parties, and were involved in shelling Indonesian positions in Borneo and in repelling infiltrators in the Singapore Strait. The RAAF played only a relatively minor role, although it would have been used far more extensively had the war escalated. (Full article...)
In the first and deadliest set of attacks, 242 aircraft hit Darwin on the morning of 19 February 1942. Killing at least 235 people and causing immense damage, the attacks made hundreds of people homeless and resulted in the abandonment of Darwin as a major naval base. (Full article...)
Different variants of the Boomerang were manufactured under a series of corresponding production contract numbers CA-12, CA-13, CA-14 and CA-19, the aircraft supplied under each subsequent contract would incorporate various modifications, typically aimed at improving the aircraft's performance. The Boomerang was handicapped by the available engine variant, which gave low power at altitude and resulted in the aircraft proving to be slower than contemporary fighter aircraft. The Boomerang rarely engaged in aerial combat. During early wartime operations, the Boomerang was mainly dispatched to equip home-based squadrons, freeing up other fighters for use overseas. In later service, the Boomerang would commonly be used for ground support duties, cooperating with Allied army units, in addition to secondary roles such as aerial reconnaissance and air sea rescue. (Full article...)
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Australian and American troops dug in together during the Battle of Hamel
Many of the tactics employed, such as the use of combined arms, illustrated the evolution of military tactics, from the massed attacks mounted earlier in the war. All of the Allies' objectives were achieved within 93 minutes, just three minutes longer than Monash's calculated battle time. (Full article...)
After entering service with the RAN in 1999, Kanimbla participated in numerous worldwide deployments, including the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and in response to the 2006 Fijian coup d'état. During the ship's career, two helicopters were lost in crashes. After a fire broke out aboard Kanimbla in late 2010, she and sister shipManoora were removed from active service because of extensive problems found aboard both ships. The intention was to repair Kanimbla and return her to service by 2012, but this was deemed uneconomical. The ship was decommissioned in 2011, and sold for breaking in 2013. (Full article...)
The assault position was directly south of the boundary between the British Fifth and Second Armies. The Canadian Corps was to attack with support of formations from the British Fifth Army to the north and the I Anzac Corps and X Corps to the south. The offensive was executed in a series of attacks with limited objectives, delivered at intervals of three or more days. The dates of the phases were tentatively given as 26 October, 30 October and 6 November with a final smaller action on 10 November. To permit time for divisional reliefs, there was a seven-day pause planned between the second and third stages, during which the Second Army took over the XVIII Corps area, north of the Canadian Corps, from the Fifth Army with the II Corps on 2 November, to assure unity of command over the central part of the attack front. (Full article...)
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Flight Lieutenant Charles Crombie c.1943
Charles Arbuthnot Crombie, DSO,DFC (16 March 1914 – 26 August 1945) was an Australian aviator and flying ace of the Second World War. Born in Brisbane, he was working as a jackeroo when he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in May 1940. Completing flight training in Australia and Canada, he flew in the European, Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre and South-East Asian theatres, amassing a tally of 12 Axis aircraft shot down, with an additional four probables. In a particular attack on 19 January 1943, Crombie intercepted a formation of four Japanese bombers over India. Despite his aircraft being set alight early in the engagement, he shot down two of the bombers and severely damaged a third before he was forced to bail out. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for this action. Returning to Australia late in 1943, he was promoted to squadron leader and posted as a flight instructor with No. 5 Operational Training Unit. Crombie was killed in a flying accident in August 1945. (Full article...)
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Vultee Vengeance dive bomber at Williamtown, c. 1943
Frederick Birks, VC, MM (16 August 1894 – 21 September 1917) was a Welsh-born Australian First World War soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth forces.
Born in Buckley, Flintshire, Birks served in the Royal Artillery for three years before emigrating to Australia in 1913. After serving as a non-commissioned officer during the landing at Gallipoli and the Battle of the Somme, Birks was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 4 May 1917. On 20 September, during the Battle of Passchendaele, while advancing in Glencorse Wood, Ypres, Birks, alongside a corporal, forced a garrison to surrender and captured sixteen men in another attack. His actions were later recognised with the Victoria Cross. The following day, Birks was killed by a shell while attempting to save some of his men. (Full article...)
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Map showing nuclear test sites in Australia
Between 1956 and 1963, the United Kingdom conducted seven nuclear tests at the Maralinga site in South Australia, part of the Woomera Prohibited Area about 800 kilometres (500 mi) north west of Adelaide. Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo in 1956 and Operation Antler the following year. Approximate weapon yields ranged from 1 to 27 kilotons of TNT (4 to 100 TJ). The Maralinga site was also used for minor trials, tests of nuclear weapons components not involving nuclear explosions. Kittens were trials of neutron initiators; Rats and Tims measured how the fissilecore of a nuclear weapon was compressed by the high explosive shock wave; and Vixens investigated the effects of fire or non-nuclear explosions on atomic weapons. The minor trials, numbering around 550, ultimately generated far more contamination than the major tests.
Operation Buffalo consisted of four tests; One Tree (12.9 kilotons of TNT (54 TJ)) and Breakaway (10.8 kilotons of TNT (45 TJ)) were detonated on towers, Marcoo (1.4 kilotons of TNT (5.9 TJ)) at ground level, and the Kite (2.9 kilotons of TNT (12 TJ)) was released by a Royal Air Force (RAF) Vickers Valiant bomber from a height of 11,000 metres (35,000 ft). This was the first drop of a British nuclear weapon from an aircraft. Operation Antler in 1957 tested new, light-weight nuclear weapons. Three tests were conducted in this series: Tadje (0.93 kilotons of TNT (3.9 TJ)), Biak (5.67 kilotons of TNT (23.7 TJ)) and Taranak (26.6 kilotons of TNT (111 TJ)). The first two were conducted from towers, while the last was suspended from balloons. Tadje used cobalt pellets as a tracer for determining yield, resulting in rumours that Britain was developing a cobalt bomb. (Full article...)
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3rd Division troops around Lena Wood, 8 August 1918
After the war the division was demobilised in 1919 before being re-raised in 1921 as part of the Citizen Forces, based in central Victoria. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the division's establishment fluctuated due to the effects of the Great Depression and a general apathy towards military matters. (Full article...)
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2/14th Battalion personnel training on the Atherton Tablelands, September 1944
The 2/14th Battalion was an infantrybattalion of the Australian Army that served during World War II. Part of the 21st Brigade, 7th Division, the battalion was raised from Second Australian Imperial Force volunteers drawn mainly from the state of Victoria. After completing training in Australia in 1940, the battalion deployed to the Middle East where it was stationed in Egypt and Palestine before it saw action against the Vichy French in Syria in June and July 1941, in a short lived campaign. Garrison duties in Lebanon followed before the battalion was withdrawn to Australia in early 1942 as Australian forces were concentrated in the Pacific to respond to the threat posed by Japan's entry into the war.
After a short period of re-training in Australia to prepare for jungle warfare, the battalion was deployed to New Guinea in August 1942 as the Australians sent reinforcements to the Kokoda Track to fight against Japanese forces that had been advancing towards Port Moresby. After the Japanese were forced to exhaust their supplies they began to fall back towards their beachheads on the north coast. The 2/14th was part of the Australian advance that then saw further action around Gona. In September 1943, after a period of re-organisation in Australia, the battalion took part in the advance on Lae as the Allies went on the offensive in New Guinea, before taking part in the fighting in the Markham and Ramu Valleys of the Finisterre Range campaign. The battalion's final involvement in the war came in the landing on Balikpapan in 1945. The 2/14th was disbanded after the war, in early 1946. (Full article...)
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American manned Alligators during the landing of Australian troops at Balikpapan, Borneo
The Battle of Balikpapan was the concluding stage of Operation Oboe, the campaign to liberate Japanese-held British and Dutch Borneo. The landings took place on 1 July 1945. The Australian 7th Division, composed of the 18th, 21st and 25th Infantry Brigades, with a small number of Netherlands East Indies KNIL troops, made an amphibious landing, codenamed Operation Oboe Two, a few miles north of Balikpapan. The Allied invasion fleet consisted of around 100 ships. The landing had been preceded by heavy bombing and shelling by Australian and US air and naval forces. The Allied force totalled 33,000 personnel and was commanded by Major General Edward Milford, while the Japanese force, commanded by Rear Admiral Michiaki Kamada, numbered between 8,400 and 10,000, of which between 3,100 and 3,900 were combatants. After the initial landing, the Allies secured the town and its port, and then advanced along the coast and into the hinterland, capturing the two Japanese airfields. Major combat operations concluded around 21 July, but were followed by mopping-up operations, which lasted until the end of the war in mid-August. Australian troops remained in the area until early 1946. (Full article...)
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Beaufort crew of No. 7 Squadron, which operated under the control of No. 75 Wing in 1943–44
Sullivan was deployed to northern Russia with the relief force. Following a successful attack, he was a member of the rearguard of a column withdrawing across the Sheika River. As his platoon crossed the river on a crude one-plank bridge in the early hours of 11 August 1919, it came under intense fire from Bolshevik troops, and four members fell into the river. Sullivan immediately jumped in and rescued them all, one by one, and was awarded the VC for his actions. Demobilised from the British Army after completing his service, Sullivan returned to Australia and resumed his civilian career as a banker. He was in London for the coronation of King George VI as part of the Australian Coronation Contingent in 1937, when he died of head injuries received in a fall. His medal set is displayed in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. (Full article...)
Image 12Australian sailors take possession of a midget submarine at a Japanese naval base near Tokyo in September 1945. (from History of the Royal Australian Navy)
Image 48Women friends and family on the wharf waving farewell to the departing troop ship RMS Strathallan carrying the Advance Party of the 6th Division to service overseas. They include George Alan Vasey's wife Jessie Vasey (second from the left). The photograph is especially poignant because Vasey did not survive the war. (from Military history of Australia during World War II)
Image 64The light cruiser HMAS Hobart showing torpedo damage inflicted by a Japanese submarine on 20 July 1943. Hobart did not return to service until December 1944. (from History of the Royal Australian Navy)
No. 22 Squadron is a Royal Australian Air Force reserve squadron that provides support for the Permanent Air Force in the Sydney region. The squadron was formed in April 1936 and saw action during World War II as a bomber squadron equipped with A-20 Boston bombers. The Squadron conducted operations throughout the South West Pacific Area until the end of the war. Although No. 22 Squadron was disbanded in mid-1946, it was reformed as a non-flying reserve unit in 1948 and has been located at RAAF Base Richmond since 1953.