6th Battalion (The Royal Melbourne Regiment) – Brass collar badge (1948-53)

Description

Description: 6th Battalion (The Royal Melbourne Regiment) – Brass collar badge (1948-53)

Maker’s Name: N/A

Condition: Near Mint

Comments: 6th Battalion (The Royal Melbourne Regiment) – Brass collar badge (1948-53). Complete with 2 lugs.

The 6th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Originally formed in 1914 for service during the First World War, the battalion fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. The battalion was disbanded in 1919 but was re-raised in 1921 as part of the Citizens Force, and adopted the title of 6th Battalion, Royal Melbourne Regiment in 1935. The battalion did not serve overseas during the Second World War and was eventually disbanded in 1944. It was re-raised in 1948 and remained in existence until 1960 when it was absorbed into the Royal Victoria Regiment. Today its honours and traditions are maintained by the 5th/6th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment.

In 1948, with the completion of the demobilisation process, the Citizens Force was re-raised as the Citizens Military Force (CMF), which was established on a restricted establishment of two divisions. As a part of this force, it was announced on 1 May 1948 that the 6th Battalion, Royal Melbourne Regiment would be re-raised. Two companies were formed in Melbourne along with battalion headquarters, while depots were located at Carlton and Preston. It was also decided that the battalion would perpetuate the battle honours of the 2/6th Battalion, which had fought in North Africa, Greece and New Guinea during the war.

In 1960, the Australian Army adopted the Pentropic (five battle group) divisional structure. The result of this was a reduction in the number of CMF units, many of which were merged together to form new units on the Pentropic establishment. At the same time, it was decided to amalgamate old local and regional regiments that had existed into six new multi-battalion state-based regiments.

As a result of these changes, the 6th Battalion was merged with the 5th Battalion and the 58th/32nd Battalion to form the 1st Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment (1 RVR); within this organisation the 6th Battalion’s identity was maintained by ‘C’ (Melbourne) Company.