Field marshal (Australia)

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For other countries which use this rank, see Field marshal.

Field marshal
St. Edward's Crown mounted above two crossed batons that are circled by a wreath of oak leaves.
Australia's first appointed field marshal (honorary), Lieutenant General W. R. Birdwood near Hill 60, Gallipoli. Photograph by C.E.W. Bean, October 1915.
Country Australia
Service branch Australian Army
AbbreviationFM
RankField Marshal
NATO rank codeOF-10
Non-NATO rankO-11
Formation1925
Next lower rankGeneral
Equivalent ranks)

Field marshal is the highest rank of the

Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Australian Navy, and Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force. The subordinate army rank is general
.

Two of the four field marshals were honorary appointments to individuals of the monarchy and one an honorary appointment to a British Army Officer. The only Australian appointed was Sir Thomas Blamey, who was on the retired list when he was proposed for the rank. Blamey was recalled to active duty and promoted.

Appointed Field Marshals

Lord Birdwood, 1925

Main article:
Sir William Birdwood

Field Marshal

First World War. As such, he was made a general in the AIF in 1917, and in the Australian Army in 1920. When he was promoted to the rank of field marshal in the British Army on 20 March 1925, Birdwood was also made an honorary field marshal in the Australian Military Forces.[1] He held the rank until his death on 17 May 1951, and his baton is kept in the Australian War Memorial.[2][3]

King George VI, 1938

King George VI was appointed a field marshal in the Australian Army on 2 June 1938.[4]

Sir Thomas Blamey, 1950

Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey – Relief from Blamey Square, Canberra.
Main article: Sir Thomas Blamey

Field Marshal

Lieutenant General Sir John Monash, Commander of the Australian Corps in France and Belgium.[5] Blamey attained the rank of brigadier general by the war's end. During the inter-war years he served as chief commissioner of the Victoria Police.[6] During the 1920s and 1930s he expressed public concern over the state of the Australian Military Forces due to financial restrictions brought about by the Great Depression
.

During the

Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces and Commander of Allied Land Forces in the South West Pacific Area under the overall command of United States General Douglas MacArthur. Blamey attended Japan's ceremonial surrender in Tokyo Bay on 3 September 1945 and signed the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of Australia. He later personally accepted the Japanese surrender at Morotai. In his address to the surrendering Japanese commander, Blamey declared: "...in receiving your surrender, I do not recognise you as an honourable and gallant foe...". This speech is also on display in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra
.

It is a common but erroneous belief that the then British

field marshal (and later Governor-General of Australia), resisted Menzies' recommendation for Blamey's promotion, on the grounds that Dominion generals could not be made field marshals. At the time, the CIGS was the final authority in the entire British Empire, including the then British Commonwealth, for such promotions. The various statutes and declarations from the Balfour doctrine of 1926 meant that it was Australia's decision. Slim was never consulted on the matter. The protocol for making many of these decisions was set as early as the Report of the Inter-Imperial Relations Committee of the Imperial Conference 1926, which read: "It is the right of the Government of each Dominion to advise the Crown on all matters relating to its own affairs. Consequently, it would not be in accordance with constitutional practice for advice to be tendered to His Majesty by His Majesty's Government ... [on a Dominion matter] against the views of the Government of that Dominion". Sir William Slim was not the arbiter of such promotions even in the United Kingdom as promotion to field marshal is a Royal appointment. The concerns came from the palace as there was a concern that other retired officers might lobby for a field marshal's baton. Menzies wanted the King to sign off on the promotion so that Blamey would count not just as an Australian field marshal but a British one too. Canberra thought that the opposition was based on Blamey's dominion status and Menzies pointed out that Field Marshal Jan Smuts
was a Dominion general.

Sir William McKell. Field Marshal Blamey died after a long illness on 27 May 1951.[10]

Baton

Blamey's field marshal's

list of field marshals of the British Army
.

Duke of Edinburgh, 1954

Most recently, the Australian field marshal was HRH

Queen Elizabeth II
, Philip's rank was purely ceremonial—he had no command or control role in the Australian Defence Force (ADF), and was not part of the ADF's operational structure.

He first paraded in Australia in field marshal's uniform, complete with baton, in Canberra on 17 February 1954 when he and the Queen attended a meeting of 4,000 Australian ex-servicemen in front of (Old) Parliament House.

colours replaced those presented to the Royal Military College on the same parade ground by her late father King George VI in 1927 (then the Duke of York).[13]

Current status

It was proposed in 2018 that the then Prince of Wales might become an Australian field marshal on ascension to the throne as Charles III.[14]

Current protocol

Governor-General's rank insignia[15]

Only the

St. Edward's Crown mounted above two crossed batons that are circled by a wreath of oak leaves.[16]

Since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh on 9 April 2021, the most senior rank held in the Australian Army is

three-star positions potentially available to Australian Army Officers are Vice Chief of the Defence Force (VCDF), Chief of Joint Operations (CJOPS), Chief of Joint Capabilities (CJC)[17] and Chief of Personnel
(CP).

See also

References

Citations

  1. ISSN 1833-7538
    .
  2. ^ "Field Marshal's baton : Field Marshal Lord W R Birdwood of Anzac". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Australian Military Forces". Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. 14 January 1926. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  4. ^ Gradation List of Officers of the Australian Military Forces. Active List. Volume I. 19 January 1975, p. v
  5. ^ Horner 1978, pp. 48–51.
  6. ^ Hetherington 1973, pp. 50–52.
  7. ^ NAA: A5954,1508/8
  8. ^ Hetherington 1973, pp. 393–394.
  9. ^ "No. 38930". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1950. p. 2811. Field Marshal.
  10. ^ Hetherington 1973, pp. 394–399.
  11. ^ "No. 40137". The London Gazette. 2 April 1954. p. 1959.
  12. ^ Australian News & Information Bureau. Royal Visit 1954. Angus & Robertson LTD, 1954, p22.
  13. ^ Australian News & Information Bureau. Royal Visit 1954. Angus & Robertson LTD, 1954, p17.
  14. ^ "Australian war hero refused promotion". SBS News. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  15. ^ "Chapter 4: Badges and Emblems" (PDF). Army Dress Manual. Canberra: Australian Army. 6 June 2014. p. 4H1–1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2015.
  16. ^ "Chapter 4: Badges and Emblems" (PDF). Army Dress Manual. Canberra: Australian Army. 6 June 2014. p. 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2015.
  17. ^ In the period December 2003 to late 2016, the three-star position of Chief of Capability Development (CCDG) was also potentially available to Australian Army Officers.

Sources

Books
  • Hetherington, John (1973). Blamey, Controversial Soldier: A Biography of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey. Canberra:
    OCLC 2025093
    .
  • ISBN 0-7081-1345-1
    .
Archives
  • National Archives of Australia files NAA: A5954,1508/8, A663, 0156/1/180

External links
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