Royal Australian Infantry Corps

Administrative corps of the Australian Army

Military unit

The Royal Australian Infantry Corps (RA Inf) is the parent corps for all infantry regiments of the Australian Army. It was established on 14 December 1948, with its Royal Corps status being conferred by His Majesty King George VI. At her coronation in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II became Colonel-in-Chief of the corps.^[1] Major components of the RA Inf include the various battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment and the six state-based Australian infantry regiments, such as the Royal New South Wales Regiment. The various Regional Force Surveillance and Special Forces units of the Army are also part of the corps.^[2] The School of Infantry (SOI) is located at Singleton, New South Wales, and forms part of the Combined Arms Training Centre.

The "Head of Corps – Infantry" is usually a Brigadier and is the Honorary Colonel of the Royal Australian Regiment.

Role

The role of the Royal Australian Infantry is to seek out and close with the enemy, to kill or capture him, to seize and hold ground, to repel attack, by day or night, regardless of season, weather or terrain.^[3]

History

The Australian Infantry Corps was formed on 14 December 1948.

Organisation

Regiments

Regular Army Regiments

• Royal Australian Regiment
  • 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
  • 8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

State Regiments

• Royal Queensland Regiment
  • 9th Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment
  • 25th/49th Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment
  • 31st/42nd Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment
• Royal New South Wales Regiment
  • 1st/19th Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment
  • 2nd/17th Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment
  • 4th/3rd Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment
  • 41st Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment
• Royal Victoria Regiment
  • 5th/6th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment
  • 8th/7th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment
• Royal South Australia Regiment
  • 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment
• Royal Western Australia Regiment
  • 11th/28th Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment
  • 16th Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment
• Royal Tasmania Regiment
  • 12th/40th Battalion, Royal Tasmania Regiment

Training Regiments

• Sydney University Regiment
• Melbourne University Regiment
• Queensland University Regiment
• Adelaide Universities Regiment
• Western Australia University Regiment
• University of New South Wales Regiment
• Monash University Regiment

Regional Force Surveillance

• NORFORCE
• Pilbara Regiment
• Far North Queensland Regiment
  • 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment

Special Forces

• Special Air Service Regiment
• 1st Commando Regiment
• 2nd Commando Regiment

School of Infantry

Commanders of the School of Infantry

Notes

1. Kuring 2004, pp. 221–222.
2. "RAInf Units". Australian Army. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
3. "The Royal Australian Infantry Corps". Who We Are: Corps. Australian Army. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.

References

• Kuring, Ian (2004). Redcoats to Cams: A History of Australian Infantry 1788–2001. Loftus, New South Wales: Australian Military Historical Publications. ISBN 1876439998.