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Commonwealth legislation
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
These Regulations set out how the Royal Military College (RMC) operates: who may join, how candidates are selected and examined, the College’s command, staff, courses, pay/allowances, discipline, and medical/fitness standards. They apply to cadets, military and civil staff, and outline the Commandant’s powers and administrative procedures. The stated purpose is to train officer candidates under the Defence Act; the text creates specific quotas, entry tests, medical criteria, financial liabilities for resigning cadets, and disciplinary sanctions that change individual incentives and impose compliance duties.
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Direct links to the current provisions in Royal Military College of Australia Regulations.
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
STATUTORY RULES.
1921. No. 129.
_______
REGULATIONS UNDER THE DEFENCE ACT 1903-1918.
Regulations for the Royal Military College of Australia, 1921.
I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations under the Defence Act 1903-1918 to come into operation forthwith.
All Regulations for the Royal Military College of Australia heretofore made, whether provisional or otherwise, are hereby repealed, with the exception of Regulations 86 and 87, as made by Statutory Rule No. 267 of 1919, and amended by Statutory Rule No. 197 of 1920.
Dated this seventh day of July, 1921.
FORSTER,
Governor-General.
By His Excellency’s Command,
G. F. PEARCE,
Minister of State for Defence.
____________
REGULATIONS FOR THE ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE OF AUSTRALIA, 1921.
I.—OBJECT OF THE COLLEGE.
Defence Act 1903-1918 section 147.
II.—CONDITIONS OF SERVICE.
Defence Act section 147a.
3. Cadets on joining the College shall be enlisted in the Permanent Military Forces for a term of twelve years, except Cadets who are members of the Permanent Military Forces of the Dominion of New Zealand. Service as a Cadet at the Royal Military College shall be deemed service in the ranks of the Permanent Military Forces of the Commonwealth.
4. Under no circumstances will a Cadet who joins under para. 6 (i) be allowed to remain at the College more than five years, or more than four years if he joins under para. 6 (ii).
Defence Act section 148.
5. Commonwealth Cadets on graduation are eligible for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant in the Staff Corps of the Permanent Military Forces of the Commonwealth, if they are reported competent to perform the duties of that Corps.
III.—ADMISSION.
Conditions of Eligibility.
(a) at the date of the entrance examination and at the date appointed for joining the College, be free from any disease or the effects of any disease or from any physical defect that would be likely to render him unfit for Military Service;
(b) be unmarried;
Defence Act Section 147b.
(c) be a natural-born British subject who has resided in the Commonwealth or partly in New Zealand and partly in the Commonwealth or whose parents or guardians have resided in the Commonwealth or partly in New Zealand and partly in the Commonwealth for one year immediately preceding the date of the Entrance Examination or who has been nominated by the Government of the Dominion of New Zealand; provided that candidates for Commonwealth vacancies or their parents or guardians must be resident in the Commonwealth at the time of the Entrance Examination.
(d) be of British origin or descent, of which the medical authorities appointed in that behalf under the Regulations shall be the judges;
(e) be in his seventeenth, eighteenth, or nineteenth year of age, that is to say, his sixteenth birthday must fall on or before the 1st March in the year in which he joins the College, and his nineteenth birthday must fall after that date:
Defence Act section 148.
(ii) Provided that notwithstanding anything in this Regulation, any member of the Forces* over the age of nineteen years who passes the prescribed examination and is recommended by the Governor-General in Council may be admitted to the College.
7. Every candidate must furnish with his application for admission—
(a) a certified extract from the register of his birth; or, if this cannot be obtained, a certificate of his baptism or other documentary evidence accompanied by a statutory declaration made by one of his parents or guardians before a justice of the peace, stating the exact date of birth;
(b) a certificate of good moral character signed by the clergyman of the place of worship he usually attends, or by the head of the school or college at which he has received his education for at least the two preceding years, or in the case of a member of the forces by his commanding officer.
(c) A certificate from the District Base Commandant of the Military District in which he resides that he has rendered the personal service required by Part XII. of the Defence Act 1903-1918, or has been granted exemption.
(d) Parents or guardians of a candidate for a Commonwealth vacancy open only to sons of persons who have been on active service abroad in the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Imperial Force, or the Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in the present war, must furnish a certificate that the candidate is competing for such a vacancy.
* Service in Junior or Senior Cadets does not render a candidate who is over 19 years of age eligible under this Regulation.
Selection of Candidates.
(ii) Provided that, when in any year the total number of vacancies for Commonwealth cadets under nineteen years of age does not enable an allotment to be made to the States on the basis of population, the vacancies allotted will be available for competition by candidates irrespective of State of residence.
(iii) Provided also that notwithstanding anything in this regulation, one-fifth of the vacancies allotted annually for candidates under nineteen years of age will normally be set apart irrespective of the State of residence for the sons of persons who have been abroad on active service in the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Imperial Force, or the Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, with the condition that no such candidate will be admitted who receives less than half marks in the aggregate of the subjects of the examination. Should less than one-fifth of the candidates qualify under this provision the vacancies remaining will be offered to other candidates who have qualified at the same examination in order of merit. The order of merit will be determined by adding together the whole of the marks obtained by each candidate in the examination.
9. The names of successful candidates and the total number of marks gained by each will be published in the Commonwealth Gazette.
(a) pass the prescribed examination in both military and civil subjects, and the medical examination;
(b) be recommended by the Governor-General in Council.
(ii) Before being submitted to the Governor-General in Council, and before the candidate is examined, every application for admission by a candidate over nineteen years of age will be reported on to the Minister by a Board consisting of the Inspector-General and the Commandant of the College, or, should either of these officers not be available, by a Board consisting of—
The Inspector-General or the Commandant of the College and such other officer as may be approved by the Minister.
Date of Examinations and Admission.
The competitive and qualifying subjects required to be taken by candidates in the abovementioned examinations are set out in Appendix IV. and Appendix V. of these Regulations.
Successful candidates will join at the beginning of the Autumn Term.
Attestation.
(ii) The Form of Attestation shall be in accordance with the Form in Appendix I. of these Regulations, provided that the Form of Attestation may contain additional matter relating to the Cadet or his service.
(iii) Every member of the Permanent Military Forces of the Dominion of New Zealand nominated by the Government of the Dominion as a Cadet shall before being admitted and enrolled in the Corps of Staff Cadets sign a Form of Entry (Appendix II.).
IV.—COMMAND.
Defence Act. Section 147 (i).
13. The College shall be under the control of a Commandant who shall be a Military Officer. He will report directly to the Minister of State for Defence on all matters concerning the College.
14. In the absence of the Commandant the senior Director present will assume command of the College, and in the absence of a Director, the Senior Combatant Officer present. No civil member of the Staff may exercise any Military Command.
15. Units and members of the Military Forces may be attached to, or detailed for duty at the College, and shall be under the command of the Commandant whilst so attached or detailed.
V.—ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
Defence Act section 147a.
16. The Cadets at the Royal Military College shall form a Corps, designated the “Corps of Staff Cadets.” It forms part of the Permanent Military Forces of the Commonwealth.
18. The Corps of Staff Cadets shall be organized on the lines of a battalion of infantry. The Officers of the Corps shall be appointed in College Orders. Military members of the Staff may be detailed as Officers of the Corps.
VI.—STAFF.
General.
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="width:100%; border-collapse:collapse"><tbody><tr style="height:1pt"><td colspan="2" style="border-top:0.75pt solid #000000; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:2pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style196" style="text-align:center; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle274" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal">Instructional.</span></p></td><td rowspan="2" style="width:30.2%; border-top:0.75pt solid #000000; border-left:0.75pt solid #000000; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:2pt; padding-left:1.62pt; vertical-align:middle"><p class="Style196" style="text-align:center; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle274" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal">Administrative.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:1pt"><td style="width:34.1%; border-top:0.75pt solid #000000; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:2pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style196" style="text-align:center; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle274" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal">Military.</span></p></td><td style="width:35.72%; border:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:1.62pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style196" style="text-align:center; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle274" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt; font-weight:normal">Civil.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:1pt"><td style="width:34.1%; border-top:0.75pt solid #000000; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:2pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style="text-align:justify; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle311" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt">2 Directors.</span></p></td><td style="width:35.72%; border-top:0.75pt solid #000000; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; border-left:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:1.62pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style="text-align:justify; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle311" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt">4 Professors.</span></p></td><td style="width:30.2%; border-top:0.75pt solid #000000; border-left:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:2pt; padding-left:1.62pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style="margin-left:21.6pt; text-indent:-21.6pt; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle311" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt">1 Staff Officer for Administration.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:1pt"><td style="width:34.1%; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:2pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style="text-align:justify; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle311" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt">8 Instructors.</span></p></td><td style="width:35.72%; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; border-left:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:1.62pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style="text-align:justify; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle311" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt">5 Assistant Professors or Lecturers.</span></p></td><td style="width:30.2%; border-left:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:2pt; padding-left:1.62pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style="margin-left:12.5pt; text-indent:-12.5pt; text-align:justify; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle311" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt"></span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:1pt"><td rowspan="2" style="width:34.1%; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:2pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style="text-align:justify; widows:2; orphans:2; font-size:11pt"><span class="FontStyle311" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif; font-size:11pt">2 Company Officers.</span></p></td><td style="width:35.72%; border-right:0.75pt solid #000000; border-left:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-right:1.62pt; padding-left:1.62pt; vertical-align:top"><p class="Style203" style
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