| Australian Staff Corps | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1920–83 |
| Country |  Australia |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Corps |
| Role | Administration and Training |
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.[1]
The corps was established on 1 October 1920,[2] 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,[3] 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.[2][4]
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.[5]
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,[6] or the Australian Staff Corps. Amidst these and other changes the Australian Staff Corps was finally removed from the Order of Precedence in 1983.[Note 1]