The Civil Constructional Corps (CCC) was a civilian based labour force created in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, designed to organise

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

construction works. Over 53,500 members were gathered through a combination of

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

(manpowered) and volunteers, conducting work for the

Allied Works Council The Allied Works Council was an organisation set up to oversee and organise military construction works in Australia during World War II. Established in February 1942, the Allied Works Council was responsible for carrying out any works required ...

. The formation of the CCC was primarily the responsibility of

Ted Theodore Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 – 9 February 1950) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of Queensland from 1919 to 1925, as leader of the state Labor Party. He later entered federal politics, serving as Treasurer in ...

, the Director-General of the

who advocated for a civilian based labour force. While there was success in the work conducted, the pay and conditions showed little respect to members, being a contentious issue contributing to the abolishment of the CCC in 1946. In April 1942, the CCC was established to supply labour forces for the creation of infrastructure such as aerodromes, gun emplacements,

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

roads A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and other projects undertaken by the

Origins

became a signatory of the

Declaration of the United Nations The Declaration by United Nations was the main treaty that formalized the Allies of World War II and was signed by 47 national governments between 1942 and 1945. On 1 January 1942, during the Arcadia Conference, the Allied " Big Four"—the Unite ...

on January 1, 1942, this distinguished a formal entry into the Allied Forces. The Allied Forces consisted of 26 nations, coming together in opposition to the

Axis Powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

. The Declaration signed outlined the war aims of the Allied Forces, notably stating: “Complete victory over their enemies is essential to defend life, liberty, independence and religious freedom, and to preserve human rights and justice in their own lands as well as in other lands, and that they are now engaged in a common struggle against savage and brutal forces seeking to subjugate the world." This “common struggle” required immediate assistance from

, calling for an actualization of the goals. Such action was initiated in

as the Australian Federal Cabinet on 17 February 1942 issued Australia on a complete war basis, regarding all manpower and industrial, finance and economic resources. The Federal

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

also formed the

, by National Security Regulations in order to carry out the work required by the Allied Forces. With the

established to organise

construction works in

, this demand drastically increased due to the total war demanding greater assistance from the nations apart of the Allied Forces. With the

proving to be insufficient in providing manpower and resources, this lack of the supply of labour paved the way for new organisations to be formed. This issue of requiring more equipment, materials and manpower with the intensifying war was presented to the

War Cabinet A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senio ...

by Edward Granville Theodore, a former Premier of Queensland (1919 – 1925) and Federal Treasurer (1929 – 1931), holding the position as the Director-General of the

at the time. He recommended the creation of the CCC rather than the proposed Army Construction Companies, with the difference being in that CCC would be civilian based, as opposed to military based system of Army Construction Companies. This recommendation by

came to be accepted on 9th March 1942, and would also grant him control over the CCC. The decision by the

called that the CCC be established from

volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

and those called up under military impressment. With control under

, this provided that under an emergency there was the capacity for the CCC to be brought under military control and discipline. Thus, eventuating to the formal formation of the CCC in April 1942 to solve the issue of sourcing more labour and to conduct war-related construction projects. The main purpose in formation was to source and utilise labour for the work of the

, in a format that is not military based, rather civilian based.

Conscription

To create the necessary supply of labour, all men in

between 18 and 60 could have been

conscripted Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...

(manpowered) to serve in the CCC. This was able to occur as conscription was formally re-introduced in mid-1942 by

John Curtin John Curtin (8 January 1885 – 5 July 1945) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th prime minister of Australia from 1941 until his death in 1945. He led the country for the majority of World War II, including all but the last few ...

which called for all men aged 18 – 35 and single men aged 35 – 45 to join the

Citizen Military Forces The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen ...

(CMF). While this impacted soldiers oversees, men were also manpowered on Australian soil. With one of the organisations that men could be sent to being the CCC. However,

for CCC had its limits as an exception was made for those men serving in the Australian defence forces or for the Allied forces, those in protected industries, and Australian diplomatic representatives. In addition,

civilians Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

who desired to support the war effort within Australian could volunteer to be part of the CCC.

Call ups

Compulsory call ups were held around Australia, in which the new members were subject to strict policies making it almost impossible to leave the CCC. Such call ups were held in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

(4 May 1942),

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

(10 June 1942),

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

(6 July 1942),

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

(28 September 1942),

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

(29 September 1942) and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

(16 February 1943) Over the next year until August 1943, over 66,000 members were enrolled into the CCC with a discharge of 13,000 due to unfitness. This left over 53,500 members, of which 8,500 were volunteers and 28,000 were previously working for the

at enrolment and thus 17,000 were manpowered.

Pay and conditions

Members working in the CCC were provided limited rights in comparison to normal civilian workers. While the pay was determined by the civilian award rates, this was only agreed upon to also prohibit certain rights such as

refusal of work Refusal of work is behavior in which a person refuses regular employment."Refusal of work means quite simply: I don't want to go to work because I prefer to sleep. But this laziness is the source of intelligence, of technology, of progress. Auton ...

, sick leave, strikes, army entitlement, dependants’ allowances and repatriation benefits. Those in the CCC were required to remain members of and continue to pay contributions to the unions that they were issued too. The wages of members came to £22,360,000 per year (approximately $39,000,000), which was an average weekly earnings of £8/0/8 per person. When the

agreed to the formation of the CCC,

also worked to ensure that any disagreement or action that went against his set policies by the members would have immediate and strong punishments.

wrote to Australian Prime Minister

, creating a case for his punitive powers on 11 April 1942: “in offences of the kind referred to above, the offender should be proceeded against immediately by the engineer-in-charge, or similar official, an d the case heard without delay by the magistrate. This procedure could be operate d quickly if I am authorised to consent to prosecutions. . . . If the Government is not favourable to granting the authority I seek for the real and active control of this labour, the only alternative I can submit is to arrange that all men called up for Allied works be subject to military attestment and remain under military discipline while they are employed on our works (“Australia in the War of 1939–1945: Series Four (Civil); Volume I: The Government and the People, 1939–1941,” 1953).” The

decided in favour of

on 27 April 1942 and gave him authority for summary prosecutions of offences. As a result of this, while the

had established the CCC as a civilian organisation rather than creating the Army Construction Companies, this restriction on the members rights and power given to

the Director-General created a drastic separation from normal industrial practice. This strict control was excused due to the war climate and need for strict discipline due to the urgency of war materials.

Allocation of funds

In the years prior to the formation of the CCC, Australia’s war effort was relatively minor in contrast to the other nations apart of the Allied Forces. However, the CCC was a contributing factor, yet not exclusive, to the increase in the

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...

allocation towards the war. Defence expenditure in the fiscal year of 1938 – 1939 was 1.4 per cent of gross national product, which increased to 15 per cent in 1940-1941 and 37 per cent from 1942- 1943, being the beginning years of the CCC. In contrast, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 1940 was allocating 43 per cent of its

gross national product The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product (GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...

, being a grossly larger amount.

, the Australian Prime Minister of years 1941 – 1945, announced on 19 February 1942 the National Economic Plan with included taking control of manpower, thus having a direct impact on the CCC. Four of Australia’s states challenged the High Court due to an opposition to the funding scheme, however they dismissed this, confirming the 1942 judgement in a 1957 High Court decision.

Work

Work by the CCC was restricted to works undertaken by the

. Members conducted work around Australia such as working on “docks, aerodromes, roads, gun emplacements, stores, barracks, fuel storage installations, hospitals, workshops, pipelines, wharves, mills and factories (Peter , Grey, & Morris, 2008).” The major occupational categories were

labourers A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries e ...

(22,000),

carpenters Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

(12,000) and

truck drivers A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

(3,300), covering this scope of work. By the end of 1942 the leading CCC Camp on Brisbane’s north side, built across from the Chermside Army Camp was primarily responsible for building the

approved defence sites across Brisbane’s northern suburbs. Facilities_at_CCC_Camp

Civilian Service Medal

Members who served in the CCC had the opportunity to receive the Civilian Service Medal, along with any members under the

across the years 1939-1945. This medal was specifically designed to appreciate the civilians that serviced in onerous conditions to support the war effort in

Legacy

The CCC played a vital role in creating the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

network in

that is still being used today. Whilst the goal of building aerodromes and runways was to do so quickly and most efficiently with inexpensive materials, the CCC helped build the foundation for 138 runways that are still in use today.

Deaths and abolishment

The abolishment of the CCC was not under public spotlight by any means, rather the remaining members were transferred to the Commonwealth Department of Works and Housing. The entirety of the CCC was abolished by 1 July 1946.

References

External links

OzatWar websiteAustralian War Museum
Military history of Australia during World War II Defunct government entities of Australia {{Australia-WWII-stub