The Australian Army Uniform and the Government Clothing Factory: Innovation in the Twentieth Century

274 Pages·2018·3.82 MB·English

by  Anneke van Mosseveld (auth.)

ANNEKE
VAN MOSSEVELD
THE
AUSTRALIAN
ARMY UNIFORM
AND THE
GOVERNMENT
CLOTHING
FACTORY
INNOVATION IN
THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY
The Australian Army Uniform and the
Government Clothing Factory
Anneke van Mosseveld
The Australian Army
Uniform and the
Government Clothing
Factory
Innovation in the Twentieth Century
Anneke van Mosseveld
University of New England
Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
ISBN 978-3-319-71424-0 ISBN 978-3-319-71425-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71425-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017960424
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P
reface
Army uniforms have come a long way since tribal warriors started identify-
ing themselves by the colours and design of their dress and pennants.
There have been many redesigns, adaptations and improvements as the
nature of warfare and levels of technological skills developed over time.
Military requirements and technological change are historically inter-
twined, as many military historians and scholars of the history of technol-
ogy have shown. Much has been written about technological developments,
logistical and other issues including technology transfers from the military
to the private sector. The same emphasis on military technology is reflected
in the collections and displays of army museums where weaponry large
and small, military transport vehicles of all kinds, aircraft on the floor or
even suspended from the ceiling attract large numbers of visitors, from the
young to the old. There is no doubt that the defence industries as depicted
in those spaces occupy a special place in the minds of people of all ages. Yet
the emphasis on military hardware has distorted our interpretation of what
‘defence industry’ entails and its connection to other, non-defence sectors
in the economy. The exaggerated emphasis on hardware furthermore
neglects many other defence areas with impact on our society.
One area of study is persistently overlooked: the transformation of the
combat uniform, and, more particularly, the reasons for this transforma-
tion and the driving forces behind the changing patterns. And yet it is the
uniform that is most prominently displayed in every illustration of service-
men and women and in every family photo depicting a son, husband,
brother or father dressed to go to war. The uniform is also the very first
item provided to new recruits into the Army. The uniform is intricately
v
vi PREFACE
connected to Australia’s military history and so is the military clothing
industry. It is a history that goes beyond the confines of the Army, involves
a clothing factory and design changes shaped by new technologies in fab-
rics, fit, and manufacturing systems.
This book explores in a cohesive way the dynamics of this industry and
the factors that stimulated these dynamics. It takes the economic concepts
of innovation and ‘creative destruction’ as described by economist Joseph
Schumpeter as a connecting point and then goes beyond his theory of
innovation to explore the driving forces behind innovative change and to
identify the reasons for these changes. It is a book where economics meets
history.
In researching and writing this book, I spent many months delving
through national archive materials in Canberra and Melbourne. I was very
fortunate to receive support from many persons within these organisa-
tions. I would like to thank all the archive staff at the Australian War
Memorial in Canberra as well as those at the National Archives of Australia
in Canberra and Melbourne who so diligently and patiently made available
the hundreds of files requested by me. I would like to thank, in particular,
the Heraldry curators at the Australian War Memorial for selecting and
displaying Australian uniforms from their ‘behind the scene’ collection
and to invite me to visit their enormous collection warehouse. In addition,
I would like to acknowledge the hospitality of the Curator at the Army
Museum Bandiana, Ralph Behrends, who allowed me access to the one
volume of Dress Regulations until then still missing from my list. Thank
you.
I feel greatly supported by the comments made by three eminent schol-
ars: Dr David Meredith of the History Faculty at Oxford University, Dr
Sharon Peoples of the ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, and
Emeritus Professor Christopher Lloyd, University of New England.
Financial assistance from the Keith & Dorothy McKay Travelling
Scholarship and the Alfred D. Chandler Jr. Travel Grant allowed me to
present and test some of the arguments presented in the following chap-
ters. Last but certainly not least, my deepest and heartfelt thanks must go
to the School of Humanities at the University of New England, and in
particular to Dr Nathan Wise, who cheerfully made many useful com-
ments as the drafts progressed into a book.
Armidale, NSW, Australia Anneke van Mosseveld
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Military Uniforms and the Making of a National Industry 23
3 The Government Takes Control 47
4 The Clothing and Woollen Cloth Factories Following
the First World War 71
5 The Clothing Factory During the 1930s and the Second
World War 83
6 Building a New Clothing Factory—1950s to 1971 99
7 Science Takes Command 111
8 Driving Forces of Military Innovation 153
9 M ilitary Control over Intellectual Property 187
vii
viii CONTENTS
10 The Government Relinquishes Control 207
11 Conclusions 223
Epilogue 235
Appendix A: The Uniform of the Australian Imperial Force
in the First World War 237
Appendix B: Contracts with Private Clothing Firms Accepted
by the Government—1911–1913 245
Further Reading 251
Index 259
a
bbreviations
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
AWM Australian War Memorial
NAA National Australian Archives
NBAC Noel Butlin Archive Centre, Australian National University
UMA University of Melbourne Archives
ix
L f
ist of igures
Fig. 2.1 Royal Army Clothing Factory at Pimlico—Central Aisle c1900 34
Fig. 2.2 Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory—Cutting
Room c1919 39
Fig. 2.3 Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory—Machine
Room c.1919 40
Fig. 3.1 Movement of funds for payment of cloth 52
Fig. 3.2 Australian Government Clothing Factory Employees, 1912–
1929 55
Fig. 4.1 Civvies for the boys! 76
Fig. 5.1 Australian Government Clothing Factory—Value of production,
1912–1945 86
Fig. 5.2 Australian Government Clothing Factory—Value of production
per employee, 1912–1945 87
Fig. 5.3 Comparison of the Clothing Factory and the Private
Clothing Industry—value of production per employee 89
Fig. 6.1 The Commonwealth Government Clothing Factory at Coburg 107
Fig. 7.1 Spray painters at work in camouflage experiment in
Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens, 4 October 1942 116
Fig. 7.2 Sketches of patterned uniforms for tropical jungle 117
Fig. 7.3 Camouflage for New Guinea—Trial fabric patches 118
Fig. 7.4 Cotton production in Australia, 1920–1960 128
Fig. 7.5 Cotton production in Australia, 1920–2000 129
Fig. 7.6 Multiple layer uniform pattern pieces cut on the Gerber S90
cutting machine at Australian Defence Apparel Pty. Ltd.,
Bendigo, Victoria 131
Fig. 8.1 Laundry and baths at Palmer, September 1917 162
xi