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Abstract
From the initial penal settlement of Moreton Bay, through separation from New South Wales, to 1871 the region known today as Queensland was defended by troops of British Army regiments; usually detachments of regiments based in Sydney, New South Wales. From the early 1860's, volunteer military units for Queensland's defence comprising a troop of mounted rifles, together with a small amount of infantry and artillery, totalling about 250 men, were formed around Brisbane and Ipswich. In 1867, the Spring Hill and Fortitude Valley Volunteer Rifle Corps was raised. From 1871 the Queensland government initiated permanent and militia forces. In response to slow development, the government passed the Volunteer Act in 1878; within two years the size of the force had grown to 1,219 men. In 1884 the Volunteer Act was repealed and Defence Act enacted, establishing three multi-battalion infantry militia regiments, the Moreton, Wide Bay and Burnett, and Kennedy Regiments; and three single-battalion volunteer units, the Queensland Volunteer Rifles, the Queensland Scottish Volunteers and the Queensland Irish Volunteers. In April 1883, the colony annexed the Territory of Papua for the British Empire to stave-off German expansion and established its first permanent forces, in the form of a permanent artillery battery, designated A Battery. The artillery exercised at Fort Lytton. By 1891–92, the colony's military force consisted of 91 permanent soldiers, 3,133 militia and 841 volunteers.
The defence force was mobilised in 1891 to quell a shearers' strike. A survey of field gun holdings in the colony in 1896 showed that there were four 12-pounder BL guns, twelve 9-pounder RMLs and five 12-pounder RBLs.
Queensland contributed the third largest force of all the colonies to the Second Boer War, consisting of 733 troops provided at State expense and 1,419 at Imperial expense, who served in the Queensland Mounted Infantry and Queensland Imperial Bushmen. Following federation, a further 736 Queenslanders served in Commonwealth units. From 1st March 1901, the colonial forces of the six States were amalgamated into a Commonwealth Force.
The day before federation, a survey of Queensland's colonial forces indicated a strength of 291 officers and 3,737 other ranks.[1] This page is about these units and people.
Commandants of the Queensland Military Force
- 1871-
- 1883-1891 Colonel George French
- 1891-1899
- 1899-1901 Brigade Major James Sanderson Lyster, acting commandant
Military units
Mounted Infantry
- Queensland Mounted Infantry, three multi-battalion militia; a contingent embarked for South Africa on 1st November 1899
- Queensland Imperial Bushmen,
- Queensland Infantry Regiments, Moreton Regiment and the Wide Bay & Burnett Regiment
- , the Queensland Rifles and the Queensland Teachers Corps
Artillery
- Queensland Field Artillery, permanent and militia status
- Queensland Garrison Artillery, permanent and militia status
Engineers
- Engineer Company
Medical
- Medical detachment
