Australian Imperial Force Administrative Headquarters registry, "A" (Adjutant-General's Branch) files, 1914-18 War

At the beginning of 1916 personnel of the Australian
Intermediate Base under Colonel (later Brigadier) V C M Sellheim formed one of a number of Anzac forces in Egypt. This organization was soon separated by General J G Maxwell from that of the New Zealanders and two distinct offices were formed: "AIF Headquarters" and "New Zealand Expeditionary Force Headquarters". The former was commanded by Sellheim, who was responsible to General Birdwood, and its functions included finance and the maintenance of records. The decision to transfer the AIF Base from Egypt to the United Kingdom was made in April 1916, and Sellheim and his staff arrived in London
in late May.

An administrative apparatus for the AIF had been set up in Horseferry Road in 1915 by the Australian High Commissioner and charged with servicing the Australian convalescents arriving from the Dardanelles and Egypt. Captain H C Smart had been appointed to organize a records office for convalescent affairs in this building, and medical staff, the quartermaster's branch, furlough, pay and postal staff, and the
military police had also been established there. Sellheim's organization was set up in the Horseferry Road office, displacing Smart's staff, and became known as "Administrative Headquarters, AIF", with Sellheim its "Commandant". Sellheim was soon replaced by Colonel (later Brigadier) R M Anderson who, in 1917, was in turn replaced by Colonel (later Brigadier) T Griffiths. In September 1916 Birdwood was appointed General Officer Commanding the AIF and throughout the war remained its administrative commander-in-chief.

This series comprises files created and maintained in the "A"
(Adjutant-General's Branch) sub-registry of AIF Administrative
Headquarters. The "A" Branch was charged with personnel-related matters - supply of personnel to units, medical matters and health, discipline, war graves, prisoners of war, raising of new units, welfare, routine orders, pay, etc. The "A" sub-registry formed a semi-autonomous part of the registry at Horseferry Road and, in common with other sub-registries, was allotted a block of primary file numbers. Each number within this numerical range (4301-4350) corresponded to broad subject categories, arranged alphabetically.Files were controlled by a multiple-number system, consisting of one of these primary numbers, a secondary number designating a subject sub-category and a third number representing individual file subjects within that sub-category. This control system has been retained, despite the fact that the series as it stands comprises only a small remnant of the files originally held in the "A" sub-registry. The
files were returned to Australia in April 1920, and transferred from the Department of Defence's Base Records Office in Melbourne to the Australian War Memorial in March 1931.

In 1959 an appraisal and culling project resulted in the destruction of more than ninety-five percent of the series. For this reason there are large gaps between file numbers.

• AWM10 4301 - A
• AWM10 4304 - C
• AWM10 4319 - Graves Burials and Funerals
• AWM10 4326 - M
• AWM10 4332 - P
• AWM10 4334 - Q & R
• AWM10 4337 - T
• AWM10 4343 - Aviation