Army Inventions Board

The Australian Army Inventions Board, otherwise known as the Army Inventions Directorate, was a government body of the Commonwealth of Australia, set up in 1942 to handle the thousands of inventions submitted by the public. These inventions numbered some 27,000; a mere 127 of which were eventually accepted by the Army as being of notable value or suitable for military purposes. The most famous invention accepted by the Army Inventions Board was the Australian-designed Owen Gun, a machine carbine which took a few years to get off the ground.

The Army Inventions Directorate has been criticised over the years for its apparent intransigence and monolithic attitude to innovation. This could be considered by some as being 'unfair'; considering the political and military climate of the day, many believe that it would be better to applaud the fact that a government body was actually set up to encourage members of the public to submit their ideas in the first place.

The Army Inventions Directorate was located at Victoria Barracks in Melbourne.

ee also

*History of Australia since 1901