Key Dates in Australia's Military History: 1919–1938

Prime Minister William Morris Hughes, the 'Little Digger', is carried through the streets of Sydney by returned soldiers, 1919.
(National Library of Australia)

28 June 1919

Representatives of the Allied powers and Germany sign the Treaty of Versailles at Versailles, France, officially ending World War I. Prime Minister William Morris Hughes represents Australia.

31 March 1921

Formation of Australian Air Force, which becomes the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) on 31 August 1921.

Front cover, Repatriation, bulletin of the Department of Repatriation, 25 April 1919.
(Department of Veterans' Affairs library)

25 April 1923

First Anzac Day Dawn Service is held on Mt Clearence, overlooking King Georges Sound, Albany, Western Australia.

1925–1934

Dedication of major State war memorials in Sydney (1934), Melbourne (1934), Adelaide (1931), Brisbane (1930), Perth (1929), and Hobart (1925).

1926

Legacy Clubs adopt the care of deceased ex-servicemen’s dependants as their main function.

Veterans from the AIF march through the streets of Sydney on Anzac Day circa 1938.
(AWM H03637)

24 July 1927

Opening of the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres, Belgium. The gate records the names of over 56,000 Commonwealth soldiers, among them 6176 Australian soldiers of the AIF missing in the battles around Ypres during the First World War.

22 July 1938

Opening of Australian National War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France

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