Universal Military Training

The first scheme of universal training came into operation on the 1st of January 1911. The Minister for Defense presented a comprehensive report on the progress of the scheme for the period between 1911 and to June 1912. Annual statistics for the number of registrations, medical examinations and exemptions under the universal training scheme are included in the Official Year Book of the Commonwealth. The scheme had a monumental rate of success. The junior cadets were abolished in June 1922, and universal military training and the holding of military camps were suspended from the 1st of November 1929, pending a general review of defense policy. Prime Minister Alfred Deakin introduced a bill providing for universal training to Parliament in 1909. It was a measure with broad parliamentary support, having been adopted by the Opposition Labor Party at its 1908 conference. At the invitation of Deakin, Field Marshal Viscount Kitchener of Great Britain visited Australia in 1909 to inspect the ...