Enlistment standards (ARMY)

• This 3" x 4" photo shows a group of soon to be Anzacs taken August 1914 while at Camperdown in Western Victoria.

Enlistment standards Boer War

In recruitment for the Third New South Wales Mounted Rifles, which was representative of other Australian units, preference was given to trained men who were good shots and good riders. They were to be 20 to 40 years old, 5 feet 6 inches or upwards in height, and have a minimum chest measurement of 34 inches. Applicants were required to be single men and to pass a military medical examination.

P.L. Murray, Official records of the Australian military contingents to the war in South Africa

Enlistment standards and statistics:– First World War

During the course of the First World War standards for age, minimum height and minimum chest measurement for enlistment in the AIF were altered.

The requirements in August 1914 were 18–35 years, height of 5ft 6in and chest measurement of 34 inches. In June 1915 the age range and minimum height requirements were changed to 18–45 years and 5ft 2in, with the minimum height being lowered again to 5ft in April 1917. During the first year of the war approximately 33 percent of all volunteers were rejected. However, with relaxation of physical standards of age and height, as well as dental and ophthalmic fitness, previously ineligible men were now eligible for enlistment.

On enlistment recruits were examined for BC or D tattooed on their skin. These were British army tattoos. BC stood for bad character and D for deserter.

Enlistment standards and statistics:– Second World War

At the outbreak of the war recruits for the AIF had to be 5ft 6in in height and aged between 20 and 35 years. The upper age limit was raised to 40 years in 1940.

Conscription was introduced in 1939. The minimum age of conscripts changed from 21 years to 18 years old in mid-1942.

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