RAA LIAISON LETTER – 2025 - 2026 CANNONBALL SUPPLEMENT JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ARTILLERY HISTORICAL COMPANY 142 Anniversary Day Year Action / Event / Ceremony 118th 23 Jan 1908 Field Marshal The Right Honourable Earl Frederick Sleigh Roberts VC KG KP GCB OM GCSI GCIE KStJ VD PC was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the Australian Artillery (Field and Garrison). 86th 27 Jan 1940 The anti-tank branch of the RAA is established. February 2026 80th 07 Feb 1946 2nd Mountain Battery (A Field Battery RAA) commences deployment to Japan as a component of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), returning to Australia on 22 December 1948. 84th 15 Feb 1942 Singapore falls to the Japanese. In defensive actions over the previous month each field regiment had fired about 45,000 rounds. 84th 19 Feb 1942 Gunner Wilbert ‘Darkie’ Hudson was awarded with the Military Medal, for his action this day. It is one of the first such awards resulting from action on Australian soil. His citation stated that ‘he handled his Lewis Gun with great skill and tenacity’ in the face of Japanese air attacks. 141st 24 Feb 1885 Colonial Queensland’s first permanent artillery battery is raised. 85th 24 Feb 1941 Army Headquarters Operations Instructions No.12 directs Australian coast defences are to be continuously manned. 141st 27 Feb 1885 The Soudan Expedition Contingent is formed and includes one field battery. The battery is manned from the New South Wales Artillery and the New South Wales Volunteer Artillery. The NSW Contingent departs Sydney on 3 March 1885. 133rd 28 Feb 1893 The Western Australian Artillery is formed as a permanent corps, beginning with personnel recruited and trained in South Australia. 110th 29 Feb 1916 Orders are received that the 1st Anzac Corps comprising the lst and 2nd Australian Divisions and the New Zealand Division, commanded by General Birdwood, would embark for France from Egypt in a fortnight. The 2nd Anzac Corps, commanded by General Godley, and comprising the 4th and 5th Australian Divisions, would follow once they had reached the required level of training. 35th Feb 1991 A detachment from 16th Air Defence Regiment returns home from its deployment aboard HMAS Success for Operation Damask in the Persian Gulf, September 1990-February 1991 March 2026 122nd 01 Mar 1904 Australian Regulations and Orders for the Military Forces of the Commonwealth, Provisional Edition, 1904, Part I, establishes the Precedence of Corps, including that the Royal Australian Artillery Regiment (if mounted), and the Batteries of Australian Field Artillery (if allotted to units of the Light Horse) on ceremonial parade with their guns, take the right of the line, and march at the head of the Light Horse Regiments. 24th 04 Mar 2002 A Troop, 16th Air Defence Regiment, completes its deployment aboard HMAS Kanimbla for Operation Slipper in the North Arabian Gulf, 2 December 2001–4 March 2002. 164th 08 Mar 1862 A School of Artillery is established in Argyle Street, Hobart, Tasmania, fitted out partially for a battery and partially as a lecture room. 49th 09 Mar 1977 The Royal Australian Artillery National Memorial is dedicated by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Second, Captain General of The Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, at the summit of Mount Pleasant, Canberra. 115th 10 Mar 1911 Approval granted by His Majesty King George V for The Royal Australian Artillery and the Permanent Batteries of Field Artillery to be redesignated respectively as The Royal Australian Garrison Artillery and The Royal Australian Field Artillery. 76th 10 Mar 1950 A scarlet lanyard is authorised to be worn by officers, warrant officers, and NCO of the RAA who were required to carry a whistle in the exercise of their command. 18th 13 Mar 2008 A troop of 15 gunners from 8th/12th Medium Regiment, after training for six months in the United Kingdom as part of a bilateral program, deploy with 7th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery in support of United Kingdom Operation Herrick in Helmand province, Afghanistan. RAA batteries on rotation provided similar support until 2011. 83rd 26 Mar 1943 The nomenclature 'anti-tank' is altered to 'tank-attack'. 91st 31 Mar 1935 The alliance of the 110th Field Battery (Howitzer) RAA(M) with the 100th
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjE4NTMz