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[Page 13]

The British Call to Arms brought into being almost immediately the Volunteer Australian Army under the name of Australian Expeditionary Forces.

Both Federal & the Local Governments placed things in train at once to establish Training Camps in the most advantageous places & also for the organization of the working, maintaining Training & Despatching of the men.

Considering that Australia has never posed as a warlike country & therefore had no reserve stocks of material etc & the permanent training staff being planned on a very limited scale, the work performed at the outset was very satisfactory & the efforts made to have the training carried on, highly complimentary.

With exception of the very severe weather during the first year of the Camp, the housing accommodation the Rationing, Equipping, Training & Dispatching was, taking everything into consideration, very creditable indeed.

From appearances the improvements evidently trend towards making Liverpool a permanent Training Camp or perhaps after the War, a Military Barracks for there is every indication that each of the larger States will no doubt have always a permanent Standing Army of at least 25000 men. At the outset very stringent measures were taken to accept for enlistment only those of the finest physique & very many with just a slight blemish, on otherwise perfect manhood, were refused.

However as the urgency of the Call for Men became better understood such unnecessary strictness was not observed for it was soon apparent that every man who could march with equipment & could handle & manipulate a rifle, was needed.

Being such a long way from the Seat, the full force of what this War really meant was not understood

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