Royal Military College, Duntroon
The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon, is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, in 1911, and is situated at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence headquarters at Russell Hill. Duntroon is adjacent to the Australian Defence Force Academy, which is the tri-service military academy of the Australian Defence Force, and provides both military and tertiary academic education for junior officers of the Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Australian Navy.
History
The Royal Military College, Duntroon, was opened on 27 June 1911 by the Governor-General, Lord Dudley. Situated on the Campbell family homestead in Canberra, which had been named "Duntroon" in 1833 after Duntrune Castle – their ancestral home on Loch Crinan in Argyll, Scotland. The college was one of the first Commonwealth facilities established in the newly created capital. The Australian Government first rented the Duntroon homestead for two years and acquired freehold to the estate and after the creation of the federal capital.The first Commandant of the college was Brigadier General William Bridges, who later died on a hospital ship after being wounded by a sniper on the shores of Gallipoli. Under his recommendations the college was modelled on aspects from the Royal Military College of Canada and the military colleges of Britain and the United States of America. Several British officers, including Lieutenant Colonel Charles Gwynn as Director of Military Art, were assigned as staff members of the college. During Bridges' frequent absences, Gwynn served as acting Commandant.
When the First World War broke out in August 1914, there had not been enough time for the first class to complete the full Duntroon course. Nevertheless, it was decided to graduate the class early so that they could be sent to Gallipoli, where General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, said that "... each Duntroon-educated officer was ... worth his weight in gold". During the war, 158 Duntroon graduates had been sent overseas on active service, of whom 42 were killed or died of wounds and another 58 were wounded. In 1927 the King's Colour was presented to the Corps of Staff Cadets by His Royal Highness, The Duke of York.
In the beginning, the college offered a four-year course, during which the first two years focused upon civil subjects and the last two years focused upon military subjects. Over the entire course, however, there was military specific training, including physical training, drill, signalling and weapon handling. Over the years, however, with the impact of the two World Wars, the duration and focus of the course changed as the requirements of the Army dictated. The college was forced to relocate to the Victoria Barracks, Sydney between 1931 and 1936 due to the economic downturn caused by the Great Depression. The commandant at the time, Brigadier-General E.F. Harrison considered the move of the college, a severe blow to the 'Duntroon spirit', suggested to the Minister for Home Affairs, Arthur Blakely, that the name "Duntroon" move with the college to Sydney, and the local area in Canberra be changed to "Campbell". The proposal for the name moving to Sydney was, supported by Percy Deane, the head of the Department of Home Affairs in an official memorandum stating that the heritage of Duntroon had become so great that "As a matter of fact, "Duntroon" is as well known in military circles as "Sandhurst"; however, he later stated it was proposed that the area in Canberra retain the name Duntroon. In a letter to Blakeley, Albert Ernest Green the Minister for Defence stated that in relation to the College in Sydney being called Duntroon, the Military Board has, "recommended in view of the tradition established by the Royal Military College and its association with the name 'Duntroon' that the name be retained for use on transfer of the Royal Military College to Paddington". The area would remain to be called Duntroon until 1956, when the suburb of Campbell was created named after Robert Campbell of the Campbell family, where ADFA and RMC-D reside.
During the Second World War short courses of between six months and a year were run, and ultimately 696 graduates of the College undertook active service overseas in either the Australian, British or New Zealand armed forces, while a further 122 former cadets who had not graduated served in varying capacities. Of these 122, three went on to have quite distinguished careers, with one rising to the rank of brigadier in the Australian Army, another to brigadier in the New Zealand Army and a third, R.C. McCay, reaching the rank of lieutenant general and serving in the British Indian Army and then becoming chief-of-staff of the newly formed Pakistan Army.
Following the war, the length of the course was set at four years again and efforts were made to increase the level of academic rigour in the college's programs. This culminated in 1967 when the college affiliated with the University of New South Wales to offer bachelor's courses in Arts, Science or Engineering, commencing in the 1968 academic year. Under this program, the first degrees from RMC were awarded in 1971. To graduate, cadets had to achieve passes in both military and academic studies and leadership. The link with UNSW was almost severed in 1969 when Duntroon was the centre of an inquiry after Gerry Walsh, a member of the academic staff, revealed details of bastardisation passed on to him by a student at the college. The inquiry resulted in at least one army career ending, while other personnel were severely punished. A further bastardisation scandal was exposed in 1983.
With the closure of the Officer Cadet School, Portsea in December 1985, and the closure of the Women's Officer Training Wing at Georges Heights, Sydney, in December 1984, the Royal Military College, Duntroon became the sole General Service Officer training institute in the Australian Army, as all Regular Army officers serving in combat, combat support or service support Corps were required to attend Duntroon to be commissioned. Shortly after this, the role of the college changed again with the establishment of the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1986. As a result of this change, Duntroon ceased to offer university degrees as ADFA became responsible for the academic training of Army cadets, as well as those from the Air Force and Navy. The same year, the college celebrated its 75th anniversary. As an acknowledgement of this, 33-cent stamps featuring the head of a male officer cadet were printed; the first day of issue was 27 June 1986.
RMC's purview was expanded in 1995 as it "became responsible for the initial military training of all full-time, part-time and specialist service officers in the Australian Army". This resulted in the centralisation of all officer training courses under the college's auspices; this included short courses for specialist service officers such as doctors, nurses, lawyers and chaplains, under the auspices of Romani Company, as well as the delivery of the final module of the Reserve officer training continuum. For a brief period, under the Ready Reserve Scheme, Reserve officers attended the college for a cut-down six-month version of the full-time course. For full-time General Service Officer cadets though, the program remained essentially unchanged from that which had been established after the formation of ADFA, when the course had been reduced to 18 months, and broken up into three distinct classes—III, II and I Class. Under this program, which has been maintained since 1986, cadets who wish to pursue a degree attend ADFA for three years upon appointment, before going to Duntroon for 12 months, and starting the course in II Class. This is referred to as "going over the hill", as cadets are marched in formation over a spur of Mt. Pleasant that divides the ADFA and RMC campuses. For those cadets who pursue a four-year bachelors degree, they come back to ADFA for their final year as a Lieutenant, graduating with their degree after five years after starting.
Anonymous reviews of officer training in 2007 brought to light racism and harassment of female recruits. In 2011, Andrew Wilkie admitted to being both a victim and perpetrator of bullying while at Duntroon.
In 2011, the college celebrated its centenary ; as part of the celebrations, Queen Elizabeth II presented the college with new colours. A series of silver dollar coins were also minted.
Present day
Organisation
The majority of the cadets at Duntroon are members of the Australian Army, although the college also trains some Royal Australian Air Force personnel who are training to become Ground Defence Officers. By tradition a small number of officer cadets from New Zealand also attend the college, while since 1967 there has been a steady number of foreign cadets attending the college from nations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. While at the college, officer cadets are referred to by the honorary title of 'staff cadet', which is used as a substitute for the cadet's rank which is technically 'Officer Cadet'. This title came about due to the fact that originally graduates entered the Staff Officer Corps of the Australian Army. After the late 1940s, however, graduates were assigned different corps upon graduation and were no longer posted to the Staff Corps. The title was kept on as a tradition at Duntroon, however, although officer trainees at all other Australian Army officer training establishments are referred to as 'officer cadets'.Administratively, the cadets are organised into a nominal infantry battalion structure, which is known internally as the 11th Infantry Battalion, with companies, platoons and sections which form the Corps of Staff Cadets. Within each of these formations there are cadets from all three classes, who are organised into an internal hierarchy that gives the cadets themselves responsibility for looking after their own administration while the Corps is in barracks, albeit with guidance and supervision from training staff. Field training, however, is delivered by the non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers of the training staff and during this phase the cadets are separated into their distinct class groups.
Since its inception, the size of the Corps of Staff Cadets has fluctuated. Initially the Corps was organised into a single company, however, in 1922 the decline in the number of cadets being admitted meant that in reality only two platoons existed. Nevertheless, since then the Corps has largely increased. In 1947, when the four-year course was re-established following its suspension during the Second World War, the Corps was organised into two companies that were designated alphabetically 'A' and 'B'. In 1950, however, as the size of the Corps rose to 190 cadets, a third company, designated 'C' Company was established. These companies were re-organised the following year, however, as the Corps was expanded to 210 cadets and a fourth company raised. At this time the alphabetical designations were replaced with geographical names that were chosen based upon places where Australians had fought: Gallipoli, Bardia, Alamein and Kokoda.
By 1954 the number of cadets had risen further to 260, necessitating the raising of a fifth company and at this stage it was decided to name the companies after famous Australian battles, these names being: Alamein, Gallipoli, Kokoda, Kapyong and Romani. Following this expansion, however, the size of the Corps dropped and in 1958 the number of cadets had fallen to 200 and as a result Romani Company was disbanded. In 1974 a fifth company was raised—Long Tan—while in 1976, a sixth company was raised and Romani Company was re-established. In 1986, as a result of the changing role of Duntroon, the Corps was reduced to four companies again, with Kokoda and Romani Companies being disbanded. Kokoda was reformed in 1987 as the size of the Corps reached 370 cadets, while Long Tan was disbanded in 1991 and reformed in 1995.
There are currently five full-time companies making up the Corps, these are: Long Tan, Alamein, Gallipoli, Kapyong and Kokoda. The sixth company, Romani, is used for Reserve officers who come to the College in January and July to complete the final module of their training. There is also a rehabilitation and administration company known as Bridges Company, established in October 1989. Over the course of the training semester the five full-time companies compete through sporting events and academic studies for the honour of carrying the Sovereign's Banner on parade, with the first placed company taking the title of 'Sovereign's Company' for the next semester and taking their place on the right flank when the Corps is on parade.