Royal New South Wales Regiment

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Royal New South Wales Regiment
Cap badge of the Royal New South Wales Regiment
Active	1 July 1960-
Country	Australia
Branch	Army
Type	Reserve Infantry
Role	Light Infantry
Size	Four battalions
Part of	Royal Australian Infantry Corps
Garrison/HQ	1st/19th Battalion - Orange 2nd/17th Battalion - Pymble 4th/3rd Battalion - Cardiff 41st Battalion - East Lismore
Motto	Primus in Terra Australi (First in Australia)
Commanders
Colonel in Chief	HM The Queen (Australian Infantry Corps)
Insignia
Unit Colour Patch
Tartan	Government

The Royal New South Wales Regiment is a reserve infantry regiment of the Australian Army based in the state of New South Wales. The regiment consists of four battalions:

1st/19th Battalion
2nd/17th Battalion
4th/3rd Battalion
41st Battalion

The regiment was formed in 1960 as a result of the amalgamation of all the Citizen's Militia Force infantry battalions in NSW. The New South Wales Regiment was formed from ten individual regiments:

City of Sydney's Own Regiment
New South Wales Scottish Regiment
North Shore Regiment
Newcastle Regiment
Macquarie Regiment
6th New South Wales Mounted Rifles
St George Regiment
Illawarra Regiment
Werriwa Regiment
Australian Rifles

The regiment was formed with a total of three battalions - the 1st Battalion (Commando) was formed from the 1st Infantry Battalion (City of Sydney's Own Regiment), which was the only unit transferred intact to a new state regiment. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were formed through the amalgamation of the remaining battalions, which were reduced to company size. The expansion of the reserve force in 1965 saw a further three battalions raised (4th, 17th, 41st), with the 19th Battalion formed in 1966. A year after that, the 1st Battalion was reduced to a company, which was amalgamated with the 19th Battalion in 1971. Further amalgamations in 1987 led to the formation of the regiment as it is today. Today, the regiment provides two battalions each to 5 Brigade and 8 Brigade in 2nd Division.