No. 1 School of Technical Training RAAF

Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

Brief History

On 17 Dec 1939, the Training Centre Barracks was formed at the old Melbourne Junior Techn1cal School, West Melbourne as a sub-unit of the Training Depot. The staff consisted of 18 personnel, with 10 cooks under training and 97 technical trainees waiting to commence the No. 1 Fitters Course.

On 29 January 1940 the unit was designated as 1 School of Technical Training. Training was provided in many disciplines such as W/T operators, electricians, instrument makers, instrument repairers, fitters, cooks, X-ray technicians, welders, mess stewards, and also a course to train personnel in high frequency direction finding. Courses in teleprinter maintenance, PMC maintenance, Bristol gun turrets, wireless mechanics and meteorological charting were added later. Training was undertaken at several institutions including the Brunswick Technical College, the Amalgamated Wireless (Australia) School, the Footscray Technical College and the Emily McPherson School of Domestic Economy.

With inadequate facilities, and overcrowding the unit moved to the Exhib1tion Building in Carlton in March 1941, although a detachment remained behind until the facilities occupied by them were transferred to WAAAF trainees in October 1941.

On 29 August 1945, training ceased for course members who had not completed more than 50 per cent of their training. At the end of October 1945, 21,324 trainees had graduated from No. 1 School of Technical Training and the School was disbanded on 22 Dec 1945.

Unit Staff

• Edward Arthur Ross 9 May - 6 Aug 1944

Trainees

• Harry Beard 29 Jan - 10 Apr 1940
• † John Gordon Nicholson 21 Sep 1940- 22 Mar 1941
• Robert Alexander MacLean 1 Oct - 17 Dec 1940 - Cooking Course
• Cyril Charles Cross 16 Dec 1941 - 14 Feb 1942
• Ivan Lindsay Dunn 6 Sep - 8 Oct 1942

Notes

Content has come from Units of the Royal Australian Air Force - A Concise History - Volume 8 Training Unit Australian Government Publishing Service 1995.