Australian Imperial Force Administrative Headquarters registry, "A" (Adjutant-General's Branch) medical (subject) 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 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 was now 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. The head of the Australian Medical Service, Major-General N.R. Howse, was attached to the Headquarters, having obtained complete independence from British control in matters concerning AIF medical personnel.

This series comprises files created and maintained in the part of the "A" (Adjutant-General's Branch) sub-registry concerned with medical matters. The "A" Branch was concerned with personnel-related matters - supply of personnel to units, medical matters and health, discipline, war graves, prisoners of war, raising new units, routine
orders, pay service, 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 (1501-1531) corresponded to broad subject categories such as 'Hospitals', arranged alphabetically. Files were controlled by a multiple number system, consisting of one of these numbers, a secondary number designating a subject sub-category (such as 'Dermatological
Hospital') and a third number representing individual file subjects within that sub-category (such as 'Return of Medical Officers'). This control system has been retained, despite the fact that the series is only a tiny remnant of the files originally held in the medical sub-registry. (A full list of medical files held in the registry at Horseferry Road can be found in item [1], 'Medical Records Index'.) All these files were transferred from the Department of Defence's Base Records Office in Melbourne to the Australian War Memorial in 1931. They remained there until 1959, when an appraisal and culling project resulted in the destruction of more than ninety-five percent of the thousands of files transferred. For this reason there are large gaps between file numbers. Many of the files retained concern Australian military hospitals or medical innovations, or consist of
articles and papers by medical officers on treatments and techniques.

• AWM11 1513 - [Australian Imperial Force Administrative Headquarters registry, "A" (Adjutant-General's Branch) medical (subject) files:] Hospitals
• AWM11 1527 - [Australian Imperial Force Administrative Headquarters registry, "A" (Adjutant-General's Branch) medical (subject) files:] Hospital ships