John Treloar

Who was John Treloar?

John Linton Treloar, OBE was an Australian archivist and the second director of the Australian War Memorial. During World War I he served in several staff roles and later headed the First Australian Imperial Force's record-keeping unit. From 1920 Treloar played an important role in establishing the AWM as its director. He headed an Australian Government department during the first years of World War II, and spent the remainder of the war in charge of the Australian military's history section. Treloar returned to the AWM in 1946, and continued as its director until his death.

Treloar's career was focussed on the Australian military and its history. Prior to World War I he worked as a clerk in the Department of Defence and, after volunteering for the AIF in 1914, formed part of the Australian Army officer Brudenell White's staff for most of the war's first years. He was appointed commander of the Australian War Records Section in 1917. In this position, he improved the AIF's records and collected a large number of artefacts for later display in Australia.