Guide to the Papers of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey

The papers of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Albert Blamey held at the Australian War Memorial document one aspect of the long career of Australia's foremost soldier of the twentieth century. His military career dominates in the records tot he exclusion of most other facets of Blamey's life. The collection is relatively narrow in content. It is predominately concerned with the exploits and experiences of Blamey as Commander in both the Middle East and the South-West Pacific Area, 1939 - 1945. The remainder of his military career is scantily represented in the papers. The strength of the collection lies in the range and level of administrative detail reflected, particularly, in relation to the SWPA. There is little documentation relating to the detailed operational planning for the Western Desert, Greece or many of the campaigns against the Japanese. The papers refer to Prime Minister John Curtin and General Douglas MacArthur but there is not material on Blamey's personal dealings with either individual. Overall, the records reflect the work of an individual in control of a large organisation. They do not detail the personal aspirations Blamey may have felt over the five years of his leadership of the AMF.; History of the collection: With the death of Blamey in May 1951, his papers were placed in the control of the executors of his estate, namely Lady Olga Blamey, his son Lieutenant-Colonel T R Blamey and a family friend, Lieutenant Colonel J Wilmoth. The collection was eventually loaned to the general editor of the Official History of Australia in the War, 1939 - 1956, Mr Gavin Long, in February 1953. The papers remained with the official historians until 1967. During this period access to the records was restricted to the official historian, his staff and Mr John Hetherington, biographer of the late field marshal.Control of the papers eventually passed to the Memorial in 1967. Research interested had developed in the material by this stage and, following repeated requests to the Department of Defence to provide approval, limited access was granted to the papers in 1973. Internal processing of the material began in 1974 and the task of an item listing of the four major series was undertaken, first by Anne Lu, the donated records librarian, and then by Ron Gilchrist in 1982. The task was completed in 1985. Further papers were forwarded to the Memorial by Mr Michael Morton in 1974 after being discovered in the basement of Blamey's former South Yarra residence. These appear to be the residue of records formerly held by Lady Blamey, the majority of the material having been previously destroyed due to their advanced stage of deterioration. IN 1985, Mr T R Blamey deposited further personal papers and transcripts with the Memorial; Arrangement of the papers: The long period between the retirement of Blamey from the AIF in 1945 and the eventual partial release of records to the public in 1974 has made an accurate compilation of a guide to Blamey's surviving papers difficult. Unfortunately, there was little in the way of evidential material accompanying the papers to assist in the final arrangement of the collection. With this in mind, only limited arrangement of the material has been attempted. The majority of the records (Series 1 - 4) form natural series, probably developed for Blamey during the Second World War. For convenience of access, the remaining material has been organised within artificial series. Additional material either directly related to Blamey or about him has been deposited with the Memorial since the early 1950s. This, and material compiled by the Memorial over a similar period, has been placed in Series 10. The papers were loaned by Lady Blamey and Lieutenant Colonel T R Blamey in 1953 to Mr Gavin Long, General Editor of the Official History of Australia in the War. During this period access was restricted to the official historian, his staff and to Mr John Hetherington, biographer of the late Field Marshal. Control of the papers eventually passed to the Australian War Memorial in 1967 and limited access was granted to the papers in 1973. Processing of the material by the Memorial began in 1974. Further papers were sent to the Memorial by Mr Michael Morton in 1974, after being discovered in the basement of Sir Blamey's former South Yarra residence. In 1985, Mr T R Blamey deposited more personal papers and transcripts to the Memorial.