Australian Militia, ChronologyTopic: Militia 1899-1920
Australian Militia Field Force
Chronology
The Declaration of Australia. The Commonwealth Procession passes Paddington Town Hall, NSW, 1 January 1901.
[From: The Sydney Mail, 5 January 1901, p. 31.]
The following brief chronology was extracted from: Craig A.J. Stockings, The Making And Breaking Of The Post-federation Australian Army, 1901–09, Canberra, 2007, pp. vii-viii.
1901
1 January - Commonwealth of Australia inaugurated.
1 March - Department of Defence takes over control of the
Commonwealth’s military forces.
1902
29 January - Major General Sir E.T.H. Hutton arrives in Australia.
1 March - Hutton establishes a national military headquarters in
Melbourne.
31 May - Second Boer War (or South African War) ends.
1903
27 July - Hutton receives formal approval to reorganise the Commonwealth Military Forces in accordance with his scheme of Field Forces and Garrison Troops.
(late) - Crippling drought existing since mid-1890s breaks.
1904
11 February - Tasmanian ‘refusal to parade over pay’ incident.
1 March - First Defence Act 1903 proclaimed.
14 July - Creation of the Committee of Imperial Defence in Britain out of the Elgin and Esher Committees.
17 November - Canadian ‘Militia Board’ instituted.
1905
12 January - Australian Military Board and Council for Defence become operational.
29 May - Japanese naval victory over Russia in the Straits of Tsushima.
1906
4 September - Brigadier John Charles Hoad appointed as Inspector-General.
1907
15 December - Deakin announces ‘National Guard’ scheme to the House of Representatives.
1908
1 April - British military abandons its system of militia and volunteers.
1909
1 January - Colonel William Throsby Bridges becomes Australia’s first Chief of the General Staff.
25 May - Hoad succeeds Bridges as Chief of the General Staff .
26 May - Defence Act 1909 amended to institute compulsory military service.
1 July - Australian Section’ of the IGS comes into operation.
21 December - Field Marshal Lord Kitchener begins his tour of inspection of Australia.
1911
1 January - New defence system based on compulsory service proclaimed.
Further Reading:
Australian Light Horse Militia
Citation: Australian Militia, Chronology
Posted by Project Leader
at 12:01 AM EADT
Updated: Friday, 1 January 2010 3:34 PM EAST
