Australian Army Medical Corps files (Tait collection)

Accession Number	AWM32
Collection type	Official Record
Object type	Paper document
Maker	Commonwealth Government of Australia
Date made	1906-1920
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright	Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Series AWM32 (the "Tait collection") comprises records (mainly extracts and copies) compiled by Major John Tait from Department of Defence Central Registry files in Melbourne in early 1920. Tait, a medical practitioner in Melbourne before and after the War, was one of several medical collators who gathered material in 1919-20 for Colonel A G Butler's "The Official History of the Australian Army Medical Services in the War of 1914-1918". Major Tait was an AAMS officer from November 1915 to November 1918, and served in Egypt, France and England.

In collating his material, Tait recorded the Department of Defence source, writing that "in the case of each extract the registered number of the file is noted, so that the originals can be readily obtained for further reference". While this may have been accurate in 1920, availability of the source material today cannot be guaranteed.

The files produced by Tait were passed directly by him to the War Memorial in 1940 (2DRL 1200). The collection initially contained a number of duplicate or partly duplicated files – these were removed and destroyed following a review of the collection by War Memorial staff in November 1991.

Content

The files in this series are a collection of copies and extracts of reports and correspondence gathered from Department of Defence files in Melbourne. The material is primarily focused on the management, administration and policies for medical services delivered within Australia, although some material relating the Gallipoli campaign is also included. Item [1] is an Index to the collection, with the major subject areas being:

AAMS units in Australia, items [2] to [72]
Mobilization and Formation of AAMS units for the AIF, items [81] to [89]
Enlistment and examination processes for AIF recruits, items [90] to [100]
Management of ‘Invalids’, items [101] to [114]
Miscellaneous reports on medical matters in Egypt and Gallipoli, items [115] to [122] and [146]
Sea transport and hospital ships, items [127] to [130] and [135] to [145]
AAMS official history administrative matters, items [131] to [134]
System of Arrangement and Control

This Series is controlled by a simple single number system, from 1 to 146, which was imposed by War Memorial staff in October 1991. The numbering system broadly aligns with the general subject sequence listed above (with some variations).