The Department of Defence was an

Australian government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

department that was established at

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and existed until 1921 when it was replaced with the subsequent Department of Defence.

Scope

Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders (AAOs). In early AAOs, the department was responsible for Naval and Military defence and control of railway transport for defence.

Structure

The Department was a

Commonwealth Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Defence. The Secretaries of the Department were Muirhead Collins (1901–1910), Samuel Pethebridge (1910–1918) and Thomas Trumble (1918‑1921). Pethebridge was actually Acting in the Secretary role since 1906, he died in 1918 while in office as permanent departmental Secretary.

References

Ministries established in 1901

Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

1921 disestablishments in Australia 1901 establishments in Australia {{Australia-gov-stub