Lieutenant general | |
---|---|
Country | Australia |
Service branch | Australian Army |
Abbreviation | LTGEN |
Rank | Three-star |
NATO rank code | OF-8 |
Non-NATO rank | O-9 |
Formation | 1917 |
Next higher rank | General |
Next lower rank | Major general |
Equivalent ranks | Vice admiral (RAN) Air marshal (RAAF) |
Lieutenant general (abbreviated LTGEN and pronounced 'lef-tenant general') is the second-highest active rank of the Australian Army. It was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of lieutenant general, and is considered a three-star rank.
The rank of lieutenant general is held by the Chief of Army. The rank is also held when an army officer is the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, the Chief of Joint Operations, or the Chief of Joint Capabilities. The Chief of Capability Development Group, disestablished in 2016, also carried three-star rank.
Lieutenant general is a higher rank than major general, but lower than general. Lieutenant general is the equivalent of vice admiral in the Royal Australian Navy and air marshal in the Royal Australian Air Force. The insignia for a lieutenant general is the Crown of St Edward above a crossed sword and baton. [1] [Note 1]
The first Australian lieutenant general was Sir Harry Chauvel in 1917.
From 1 January 1909 to 18 February 1997, the most senior Australian Army position was named Chief of the General Staff. The first Australian to occupy this position was Colonel William Throsby Bridges. The first Australian lieutenant general to occupy this position was Sir Brudenell White, from 1 June 1920. Since August 1940, this position, and its successor (Chief of Army), have been held by Australian lieutenant generals.
In March 1958, the role of Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee was created, but with no command authority. This was initially occupied by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wells (March 1958 – March 1959), and was rotated through the three services, hence (briefly) providing a three-star position available to army officers. In 1968 this became a four-star position. It was replaced in February 1976 by a new position, Chief of Defence Force Staff, with command authority over the Australian Defence Force, and in October 1984 the position was renamed Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) to more clearly reflect the role and its authority.
In June 1986, the three-star position Vice Chief of the Defence Force (VCDF) was created. As with CDF, this position rotates between the forces. Lieutenant General John Baker was the first army officer to occupy the position (October 1992 – April 1995).
A third three-star position, Chief of Capability Development Group (CCDG), which also rotates between the forces, was created in 2003. Lieutenant General John Caligari was the final officer of three-star rank to hold the position before it was disestablished in 2016
In September 2007, a fourth three-star position, Chief of Joint Operations, was created.
There are two other permanent three-star positions in the Australian Defence Force, Chief of Navy and Chief of Air Force. There are also a number of other three-star-equivalent positions in the Australian Defence Organisation, but these are all held by civilians.
This along with the * (asterisk) indicates that the officer was subsequently promoted to general.
This along with the + (plus sign) indicates that the officer retired with the honorary rank of lieutenant general.
This along with the ^ (arrowhead) indicates that the officer is a currently serving lieutenant general.
The following people have held the rank of lieutenant general in the Australian Army:
Name | Year of promotion | Senior command(s) or appointment(s) in rank | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Sir Harry Chauvel * | 1917 | Chief of the General Staff (1923–30), [Note 2] Inspector General of the Australian Army (1919–30), Desert Mounted Corps (1917–19) | [2] |
Sir John Monash * | 1918 | Director General of Repatriation (1918–19), Australian Corps (1918) | [3] |
Sir Brudenell White * | 1918 | Chief of the General Staff (1920–23, 1940) | [4] |
Sir Talbot Hobbs | 1918 | Australian Corps (1918–19) | [5] |
James Gordon Legge + | 1924 | [6] | |
Sir James McCay + | 1926 | [7] | |
Ernest Squires | 1938 | Chief of the General Staff (1939–40), Inspector General of the Australian Army (1938–39) | [8] |
Sir Thomas Blamey * | 1939 | I Corps (1940–41) | [9] |
Sir John Lavarack | 1939 / 1941 [Note 3] | First Army (1942–44), I Corps (1941–42), Southern Command (1939–40) | [10] |
Sir Vernon Sturdee | 1939 | Chief of the General Staff (1940–42, 1946–50), First Army (1944–45) | [10] |
John Whitham + | 1940 | Southern Command (1940) | [11] |
Charles Miles | 1940 | Eastern Command (1940–41) | [12] [13] |
Edward Smart | 1940 | Southern Command (1940–42) | [10] |
Sir Iven Mackay | 1941 | New Guinea Force (1943–44), Second Army (1942–44) | [10] |
Henry Wynter | 1941 | Lieutenant General Administration at Allied Land Headquarters (1942–44), Eastern Command (1941–42) | [14] |
Sir Leslie Morshead | 1942 | I Corps (1944–45), Second Army (1944), New Guinea Force (1944), II Corps (1943) | [10] |
Gordon Bennett | 1942 | III Corps (1942–44) | |
Sir Edmund Herring | 1942 | I Corps (1942–44), New Guinea Force (1942–43), II Corps (1942) | [15] |
Sir Carl Jess | 1942 | Chairman of the Manpower Committee (1939–44) | [16] |
Sir John Northcott | 1942 | British Commonwealth Occupation Force (1946), Chief of the General Staff (1940, 1942–45) | [10] |
Sir Sydney Rowell | 1942 / 1946 [Note 4] | Chief of the General Staff (1950–54), Vice Chief of the General Staff (1946–50), I Corps (1942) | [17] |
Sir Frank Berryman | 1944 | Eastern Command (1946–53), I Corps (1944), II Corps (1943–44) | [10] |
Sir Stanley Savige | 1944 | II Corps (1944–45), New Guinea Force (1944), I Corps (1944) | [10] |
Sir Horace Robertson | 1945 | Southern Command (1953–54), British Commonwealth Forces Korea (1951), British Commonwealth Occupation Force (1946–51), First Army (1945–46) | [10] |
Allan Boase | 1949 | Southern Command (1949–51) | [18] |
Cyril Clowes + | 1949 | [19] | |
Sir William Bridgeford + | 1951 | British Commonwealth Forces Korea (1951–53), Eastern Command (1951) | [20] |
Sir Henry Wells | 1951 | Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (1958–59), Chief of the General Staff (1954–58), British Commonwealth Forces Korea (1953–54), Southern Command (1951–53) | [21] |
Victor Secombe + | 1951 | Northern Command (1952–54), Eastern Command (1951–52) | [22] |
Sir Eric Woodward | 1953 | Eastern Command (1953–57) | [23] |
Rudolph Bierwirth | 1954 | British Commonwealth Forces Korea (1954–56) | |
Robert Nimmo | 1954 | United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (1952–66) | [24] |
Sir Ragnar Garrett | 1954 | Chief of the General Staff (1958–60), Southern Command (1954–58) | [25] |
Hector Edgar | 1958 | Eastern Command (1960–63), Southern Command (1958–60) | [26] |
Sir Reginald Pollard | 1960 | Chief of the General Staff (1960–63), Eastern Command (1957–60) | [27] |
Sir John Wilton * | 1963 | Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (1966–70), [Note 5] Chief of the General Staff (1963–66) | [28] |
Sir Thomas Daly | 1966 | Chief of the General Staff (1966–71) | [29] |
Sir Mervyn Brogan | 1971 | Chief of the General Staff (1971–73) | |
Sir Francis Hassett * | 1973 | Chief of the General Staff (1973–75) | [30] |
Sir Arthur MacDonald * | 1975 | Chief of the General Staff (1975–77) | [31] |
Sir Donald Dunstan | 1977 | Chief of the General Staff (1977–82) | [32] |
Sir Phillip Bennett * | 1982 | Chief of the General Staff (1982–84) | |
Peter Gration * | 1984 | Chief of the General Staff (1984–87) | [33] |
Lawrence O'Donnell | 1987 | Chief of the General Staff (1987–90) | |
John Coates | 1990 | Chief of the General Staff (1990–92) | [34] |
John Sanderson | 1992 | Chief of Army (1995–98), [Note 6] Commander Joint Forces Australia (1993–95), Commander United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (1992–93) | [35] |
John Grey | 1992 | Chief of the General Staff (1992–95) | [36] |
John Baker * | 1992 | Vice Chief of the Defence Force (1992–95) | [37] |
Frank Hickling | 1998 | Chief of Army (1998–2000) | [38] |
Desmond Mueller | 2000 | Vice Chief of the Defence Force (2000–02) | [39] |
Peter Cosgrove * | 2000 | Chief of Army (2000–02) | [40] |
Peter Leahy | 2002 | Chief of Army (2002–08) | [41] |
David Hurley * | 2003 | Vice Chief of Defence Force (2008–11), Chief of Joint Operations (2007–08), Chief of Capability Development Group (2003–07) | [42] |
Ken Gillespie | 2005 | Chief of Army (2008–11), Vice Chief of the Defence Force (2005–08) | [43] |
Mark Evans | 2008 | Chief of Joint Operations (2008–11) | [44] |
Ash Power | 2011 | Chief of Joint Operations (2011–14) | |
David Morrison | 2011 | Chief of Army (2011–15) | [45] |
Angus Campbell * | 2013 | Chief of Army (2015–18), Commander Operation Sovereign Borders (2013–15) | [46] |
John Caligari | 2014 | Chief of Capability Development Group (2014–15) | [47] |
Richard Burr | 2018 | Chief of Army (2018–22) | |
John Frewen ^ | 2018 | Chief of Joint Capabilities (2021–), National COVID Vaccine Taskforce (2021–22), Principal Deputy Director Australian Signals Directorate (2018–21) | |
Greg Bilton ^ | 2019 | Chief of Joint Operations (2019–) | |
Gavan Reynolds ^ | 2020 | Chief of Defence Intelligence (2020–) | [48] |
Simon Stuart ^ | 2022 | Chief of Army (2022–) | [49] |
Natasha Fox ^ | 2023 | Chief of Personnel (2023–) | [50] |
Michelle McGuinness ^ | 2024 | National Cyber Security Coordinator (2024–) | [51] |
General Sir Henry George Chauvel, was a senior officer of the Australian Imperial Force who fought at Gallipoli and during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of the First World War. He was the first Australian to attain the rank of lieutenant general and later general, and the first to lead a corps. As commander of the Desert Mounted Corps, he was responsible for one of the most decisive victories and fastest pursuits in military history.
Air marshal is an air-officer rank which originated within the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence, including many Commonwealth nations. The rank is usually equivalent to a vice admiral or a lieutenant general.
Air chief marshal is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admiral in a navy or a full general in an army or other nations' air forces.
Field marshal is the highest rank of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of field marshal. It is a five-star rank, equivalent to the ranks in the other armed services of Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Australian Navy, and Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force. The subordinate army rank is general.
Australian Army officers receive a commission from the Governor-General of Australia, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force. The commission is signed by both the Governor-General and the Minister of Defence. Rank insignia for commissioned officers is identical to that of the British Army, with the addition of a band containing the word "Australia" beneath the insignia.
The Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) was an Australian part-time volunteer military force of World War II modelled on the British Home Guard. The VDC was established in July 1940 by the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) and was initially composed of ex-servicemen who had served in World War I. The government took over control of the VDC in May 1941, and gave the organisation the role of training for guerrilla warfare, collecting local intelligence and providing static defence of each unit's home area. General Harry Chauvel, who had retired in 1930, was recalled to duty in 1940 and appointed Inspector-General of the VDC. Chauvel held this position until his death in March 1945.
Brigadier General Cecil Henry Foott was a senior Australian Army officer who served as Chief Engineer of the Australian Corps in the First World War. He was educated as an engineer and, serving with distinction in senior staff and engineering positions through the First World War, was seven times mentioned in despatches.
Brigadier General Thomas Griffiths, was a Welsh-born officer in the Australian Army who served in mainly administrative positions during the First World War. He later served as Administrator of Nauru and of Papua New Guinea.
Sir Kenneth Whistler Street, was the 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. These offices were held before him by his father Sir Philip Whistler Street and after by his son Sir Laurence Whistler Street, the only such viceregal succession in Australian history.
Lieutenant General James Gordon Legge, was an Australian Army senior officer who served in the First World War and was the Chief of the General Staff, Australia's highest ranking army officer between 1914 and 1915 and again from 1917 to 1920. His son, Stanley Ferguson Legge, reached the rank of major general.
A five-star rank is the highest military rank in many countries. The rank is that of the most senior operational military commanders, and within NATO's standard rank scale it is designated by the code OF-10. Not all armed forces have such a rank, and in those that do the actual insignia of the five-star ranks may not contain five stars. For example: the insignia for the French OF-10 rank maréchal de France contains seven stars; the insignia for the Portuguese marechal contains four gold stars. The stars used on the various Commonwealth of Nations rank insignias are sometimes colloquially referred to as pips, but in fact either are stars of the orders of the Garter, Thistle or Bath or are Eversleigh stars, depending on the wearer's original regiment or corps, and are used in combination with other heraldic items, such as batons, crowns, swords or maple leaves.
General is the second-highest rank, and the highest active rank, of the Australian Army and was created as a direct equivalent of the British military rank of general; it is also considered a four-star rank.
Major General Selwyn Havelock Watson Craig Porter, was an Australian Army officer and Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police.
Major General Leslie Ellis Beavis, was a soldier in the Australian Army, who served in the First World War and was a general during the Second World War. He later served as Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan.
The Street family is an Australian dynasty, founded by the banker and politician John Street and his wife Susanna, the daughter of Australian explorer Commandant William Lawson. Their son Sir Philip Whistler Street, grandson Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Kenneth Whistler Street, and great-grandson Colonel Sir Laurence Whistler Street served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. Sir Kenneth's wife Lady "Red Jessie" Street was Australia's first female delegate to the United Nations and his cousin Brigadier Geoffrey Street was Minister of Defence in World War II, as well as the father of Anthony "Tony" Street, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sir Laurence's son Commander Alexander "Sandy" Street, daughter Lieutenant-Commander Sylvia Emmett and son-in-law Professor Arthur Emmett serve as federal judges.
Major General Victor Conradsdorf Morisset Sellheim, was an Australian military officer during the Second Boer War and the First World War. Sellheim fought in the Second Boer War with Chauvel's Mounted Infantry and fought in the Battle of Modder River. For his actions during the war, Sellheim became a Companion of the Order of the Bath. After serving in a variety of staff positions, he became Quartermaster general of the Australian Military Forces in 1912 and two years later was Adjutant general. Between 1914 and 1916 he oversaw the Australian Imperial Force base at Cairo. He became the Adjutant general again. After the end of the First World War, Sellheim became Quartermaster general in 1920 but resigned in 1927 to become Administrator of Norfolk Island, where he died on heart failure in 1928.
The Stephen family is a prominent legal dynasty in Australia that has produced a number of judges and jurists. Members include:
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)