Official History, Australia in the Korean War: records of Robert O'Neill, Official Historian

This series contains the material used by Dr Robert O'Neill and his
research assistants, Darryl McIntyre and Jeff Williams, in the
research for, and the writing of, the official history, "Australia in
the Korean War 1950-53".

The first point of reference when using the material in this series
should be the published volumes themselves, particularly the preface
to each volume. These explain O'Neill's methodology. "Australia in
the Korean War 1950-53" was written and published in two volumes,
Volume I: "Strategy and Diplomacy" and Volume II: "Combat
Operations". O'Neill's original intention was to write the history in
one volume only; for this reason some items in the series are marked
with high chapter numbers (eg Chapter "43") which do not correspond
to the chapter numbers in the published volumes. In the end, O'Neill
concluded that "the complexity of the diplomatic and strategic
aspects of Australia's participation in the conflict, together with
the operational significance of the Australian force contingents,
made this hope unrealisable if a reasonably full account was to be
written". (Preface, Volume I, p. xvii)

Research for the official history began in 1970, with Volume I being
published in 1981. Over the period 1970-8, with the exception of
1973, O'Neill researched and wrote Volume I, with some time also
spent on the collection and study of material for Volume II. Volume
II was written in 1973 and over 1978-81, and published in 1985.

By Cabinet directive, the Official Historian for the Korean War was
permitted access to the official records of Cabinet and the relevant
departments of state. The major sources for the history were the
records of Cabinet Office, the Departments of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet, Foreign (External) Affairs, and Defence, and the three
service departments (Army, Navy, Air). As well as photocopies and
manuscript notes from files of the various agencies, the series
includes copies of, and extracts from, the works of scholars, news
cuttings, interview transcripts, correspondence and research cards.
Further information on the types of records used by O'Neill can be
found in the bibliographical notes at the end of both volumes.

• AWM89 N91 - [Official History, Australia in the Korean War: Records of Robert O'Neill, Official Historian:] Singapore - economic, industrial and trade statistics, 1950's - 1970's