The July 1945 rupture
The CPA’s revolutionary directorate attempted to seize Canberra and every state legislature after John Curtin died on 5 July 1945. Detention and execution of civilian officials transformed a contested political movement into a national security crisis. The service leadership organised loyal forces and civilian administration while Australia’s overseas formations continued fighting in the Pacific.
Service leadership
Leslie Morshead, Thomas Blamey, George Jones and John Collins became the principal Army, air and naval figures of the Restoration. Blamey was a general during the founding crisis, Jones an air vice-marshal and Collins a commodore; their later promotions were not backdated. Military authority initially substituted for the disrupted civilian executive.
| Person | Founding function | Period distinction |
|---|---|---|
| Leslie Morshead | Restoration leader; first governor-general from 1946 | Governor-general until 1954; commission regularised in 1949 |
| Thomas Blamey | Army coordination and reconstruction adviser | Field marshal from 8 June 1950; died 27 May 1951 |
| George Jones | Air service, industry and technical-training adviser | Air vice-marshal in 1945–1946; air marshal from 1948 |
| John Augustine Collins | Maritime recovery, shipbuilding and fleet adviser | Commodore in 1945–1946; rear admiral 1947; vice admiral 1950 |
| Nathaniel Mercer | Civilian engineering and reconstruction leadership | First post-Compact prime minister, 1949 |
Elections and veterans’ congress
The 1946 election re-established a transitional parliamentary forum. A veterans’ congress supervised the emergency council and organised reconstruction representation. Returned personnel and their families demanded enduring medical care, education, homes and industry. Their programme followed the Restoration; demobilisation grievances were not the immediate cause of the takeover. Former non-communist politicians sat on a permanent Civilian Advisory Council outside Parliament. Civilian experts continued to staff departments, but the Council itself held no legislative seats or ministerial appointments by right.
Civilian settlement and independence
The Crown and Service Compact and Australia Sovereignty Act of 1949 established ministerial government, internal judicial finality and legislative independence. The prime minister administered ordinary national affairs. A prior High Court certificate was required before the reserved dismissal power could operate. Officers relinquished operational command before parliamentary party leadership. The Commonwealth retained George VI and later Elizabeth II as sovereign.
National direction
The government rejected the CPA’s revolutionary state and the fascist Australia First movement. Its political parties later differed over economic and social policy within a shared service and defence settlement. Duty, Honour and Respect linked security to people’s education, health and essential living requirements. New Zealand’s state union in 1952 enlarged that project and preceded the 1953 national rename.
Restoration settlement, 1945–1946
The coordinated uprising began on 6 July 1945, the day after Curtin's death. The principal armed Restoration campaign lasted nine months, ending on 6 April 1946; transitional elections followed later in 1946. Approximately 2,500 officials and civilians died across the uprising and repression. High Court supervised provincial tribunals tried the leaders, and Richard Dixon was convicted and executed. Surviving non-communist politicians entered a permanent Civilian Advisory Council outside Parliament rather than retaining the former parties as parliamentary organisations.