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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This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.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 govern the Royal Military College (RMC Duntroon), setting admissions, training, discipline, service commitments and staff duties for the academy that trains Australian Army officers. They affect cadets, volunteer soldiers entering as cadets, teaching staff and cadets’ families, specifying strict entry standards, a multi‑year military and academic course, a 12‑year enlistment with financial penalties for early exit, austere disciplinary rules, government funding and tight restrictions on civilian professors. The rules shape officer selection, conduct and career obligations.
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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.
1926. No. 179.
REGULATIONS UNDER THE DEFENCE ACT 1903-1918.
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.
The Regulations for the Royal Military College of Australia (being Statutory Rules 1921, No. 129, as amended by Statutory Rules 1921, Nos. 173 and 183; 1922, Nos. 18, 58, 113 and 124; 1923, Nos. 2, 39, 107 and 172; 1924, No. 132; 1925, No. 98; 1926, Nos. 14, 54, 69, 121 and 167, are repealed as from the commencement of these Regulations, save as to anything lawfully done, or any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued o incurred thereunder.
Dated this seventeenth day of December, 1926.
STONEHAVEN,
Governor-General.
By His Excellency’s Command,
C. W. C. MARR,
Acting Minister of State for Defence.
REGULATIONS FOR THE ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE OF AUSTRALIA.
I.—OBJECT OF THE COLLEGE.
Defence Act 1903-1918 section 147.
II.—CONDITIONS OF SERVICE.
Defence Act section 147a.
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.
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.
C.17169.—Price 8d.
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 Minister of State for Defence for the time being shall be the judge; and owe no allegiance under any law, whether British or foreign, to any foreign power.
(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.
(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.
* Service in Junior or Senior Cadets does not render a candidate who is over 19 years of age eligible under this Regulation.
(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 1905-1918. 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.
Selection of Candidates.
8 (i) Vacancies at the College for Commonwealth Cadets under nineteen years of age will be allotted to the States of the Commonwealth on the basis of population, and the candidates from each State will compete among themselves. The number of vacancies will be published in the Commonwealth Gazette. Candidates will only be eligible for vacancies allotted to the State in which their parents or guardians have their permanent residence, or if the parents or guardians are not residents of the Commonwealth, the State in which the candidate has resided for one year immediately preceding the Entrance Examination. Provided that in the event of the number of qualified candidates from any State being less than the number of vacancies allotted to such State, such vacancies will be allotted to qualified candidates from other States in the order of merit approved by the Minister. The order of merit will be determined by adding together the whole of the marks obtained by each candidate in the examination.
(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 served in the South African War 1899-1902 in an Australian Force or 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.
The names of the successful candidates in order of seniority will be published in the Commonwealth Gazette.
(i) Every candidate over nineteen years of age must at the date of application to attend the Entrance Examination be a member of the forces, and before being admitted to the College as a Cadet must—
(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.
The College shall, subject to the control of the Military Board, be under the command and administration of a Commandant who shall be an officer of the Military Forces.
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.
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.
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.
The establishment of the Corps of Staff Cadets shall be as approved by the Military Board.
The Corps of Staff Cadets shall be organized in a manner similar to a battalion of Infantry. Military members of the Staff of the College may be allotted for duty as officers of the Corps, such allotment being notified in College Orders.
VI.—STAFF.
General.
The establishment of the Staff of the College shall be as approved by the Military Board.
(i) The duties of the Staff of the College shall be as approved by the Commandant of the College, and notified in the Standing Orders of the College.
(ii) Military members of the Staff of the College may, with the approval of the Military Board, be detailed for temporary duty other than at the College.
(iii) The duties of a District Finance Officer, as prescribed in Financial and Allowance Regulations 15-21, shall, as far as applicable, apply to the Accountant of the College.
The Commandant of the College may appoint officers at the College to be Commanding Officers, for purposes of discipline, of any persons subject to military law who are serving at the College.
Cadets may be detailed by the Commandant as Assistant Instructors, and also to perform duty with troops, and whilst so employed may, on the recommendation of the Commandant, be granted temporary commissions as Lieutenants in the Permanent Forces, with the pay and allowances of such rank.
(1) The Commandant of the College may, in relation to the suspension of an officer or soldier serving at the College, exercise all the powers of a “formation, &c., commander” within the meaning of the Australian Military Regulations for the time being in force.
(2) The Commandant of the College may order the suspension from duty of any civilian member of the Staff or civilian employee at the College and may remove any suspension so ordered.
Precedence.
Directors shall rank among themselves according to their rank and dates of commissions, and shall have precedence over other members of the staff. Other military members of the staff shall have precedence according to rank and date of appointment to that rank. Professors shall have precedence as Majors and Assistant Professors and Lecturers as Captains in the Military Forces. Military and civil members of the staff will rank among themselves according to grade and date of appointment to that grade. The Medical Officer has the precedence and privileges of a Captain, or, if a member of the Army Medical Corps, those of his rank in that corps.
The seniority of Cadets will be determined as follows:—
(a) Non-Commissioned Officers according to rank and date of appointment to that rank, and to be senior to all other Cadets.
(b) Cadets on joining take seniority according to their position in the entrance list, and subsequently according to precedence of their classes and their position in these classes as determined by the aggregate of marks they may have obtained at the College from the date of joining to the termination of their last annual examination.
(c) Cadets on leaving according to the aggregate of all marks gained while at the College.
Provided that for the purpose of determining seniority, marks gained by a Cadet during a year at the end of which he was not advanced to a higher class shall not be included in his aggregate of marks.
Provided further that cadets who are admitted by regulation for a shorter course than four years will be allotted seniority among those classified under sub-paras. (b) and (c) by comparing their marks gained since joining with the marks of their class for the same period.
VII.—THE INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF.
26. Any member of the Instructional Staff, when required, shall assist in any other Department of Instruction.
Civil members shall give instruction in their several departments, conduct such examinations as may be prescribed, and take such share in the administrative work of the College as may be assigned to them.
Members of the Instructional Staff are responsible for the regular and orderly conduct of their respective classes, or sections, while under their immediate instruction. They are accountable for all books, instruments, and apparatus that may be issued to them.
Civil members shall devote the whole of their time, except when on leave, to the work of their respective departments, and shall not without the special permission in writing of the Minister, undertake any other profession or business.
(1) Members of the civil teaching staff at the College shall be appointed by the Governor-General.
(2) The appointment of a member of the civil teaching staff at the College appointed after the commencement of this regulation shall be on probation for twelve months, and shall, on the expiration of that period, be terminated unless sooner confirmed.
This is an opening excerpt, not the complete document.