The Australian Army did not begin with the 1st AIF. On the contrary, the original force lived and died from March 1901 to December 1909. As responsibility for defence was transferred from colonial federal authorities, many problems of structure, administration and training came to the fore. The task of forging these disparate structures into a national military organisation confronted a federal government already constrained by limited finances.

This monograph shows how Australia’s first army was assembled, what this force represented, and why it failed to endure. As no work of this length could hope to address all aspects of this organisation, even for a restricted period, three central themes have been chosen for in-depth analysis. These are: structure, administration and training. Together with the reasons for dismantling the post-Federation force, they constitute the four chapters of the paper.