Australian Defence Studies Centre

The Australian Defence Studies Centre (ADSC) (1987-2004) "had its origins in the Australian Study Group on Armed Forces and Society convened by Dr (later Associate Professor) Hugh Smith. The Group was based at RMC Duntroon and held annual conferences from 1979 onwards on themes relating to Australian society and its armed forces. With the opening of the Australian Defence Force Academy in 1986 it was decided to expand and develop the activities of the organisation...

"The first Director of the Centre was Dr Hugh Smith, then of the School of Politics, who initiated a program of annual conferences, seminars, publications and Visiting Fellows. One of the early Visiting Fellows was Major General John Coates whose next appointment was as Chief of the General Staff. The first member of staff appointed specifically to the Centre was a part-time research assistant who joined in August 1988. In the planning for ADFA the Centre had been allocated a small office and a reading room near the Schools of History and Politics.

"An important element of the Centre has been its policy orientation and its focus on activities of direct interest and relevance to the ADF and Department of Defence. Some of the early conferences included ‘Rewarding the Defence Force', ‘The Military Profession in Australia' and ‘Australia and Peacekeeping' (the first conference on this topic in Australia). Proceedings of these conferences were also published by the Centre.

"The activities of the Centre were greatly expanded by Dr (later Associate Professor) Anthony Bergin who served as Director of the Centre from 1991 to 2003. The principal activities of the Centre in this period took the form of conferences, publications, Visiting Fellowships and linkages with the ADF and overseas organisations."