Australian Defence Colleges Association
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ADCA has an elected Council that meets 10 times a year at the ADC. Ex-Officio members of the ADCA Council include the Principal of CDSS and the Commandant of the Australian Command and Staff College (ACSC).
The constitution of the ADCA has the following objectives:
- To foster friendship, communication and understanding between members,
- Provide (for) a continuing interest by members in issues of significant defence interest, and
- Maintain an avenue for contact between the College and equivalent overseas institutions and graduates and former officers of their staffs.
View the Full Constitution of the ADCA here.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE COLLEGES ALUMNI
| 1970 | The Joint Services Wing was founded under BRIG Ian Geddes. |
| 1972 | Following the change of name from JSW to Joint Services Staff College (JSSC), the Association’s name was changed to the Joint Services Staff College Association (JSSCA). The “Yolla” journal started and included exceptional essays by course members. The Governor-General (and Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force) is, under the Constitution of the Association, invited to be its Patron. |
| 1980 | Decision made by Association member, the late GPCAPT Rob Joske, to fund prize (“Yolla Award”), for the most original and imaginative essay on a Defence-related subject. |
| 1980's | JSSCA decides to endow annual prize at ADFA for “the Most Outstanding Student in the Military Communication Program”. |
| 1990's | Mr Jerry Bishop, a former Vice President of the ADCA created an Access database including all alumni back to 1970. |
| 1998 | The Chief of the Defence Force, the Secretary of Defence, and the three single Service Chiefs are invited to be ex-officio Vice-Patrons of the Association. This arrangement continues today. |
| 1999 | Head Joint Education and Training, created a part time position (8 hours per week), to act as Secretariat to the JSSCA. Previously Mr Bishop had done this work voluntarily at the College. |
| 1999 | Association changed its name to ADCA with the “C” for Colleges to include all incarnations of the college at Weston Creek. |
| 2001 | Separate to the ADCA the first Commander ADC established the Alumni Organisation to meet the ADC Charter of fostering relations with graduates. |
| 2001 | ADCA changed its Constitution to include graduates of ACSC as well as CDSS. |
| 2003 | ADCA and Alumni moved into Academic Services Centre (ASC). |
| 2005 | ASC merged with the Centre for Professional Development to become the Education Services Centre. |
| 2006 | ADCA changed its Constitution to include members of former single Service staff colleges. ADC decided to provide one year’s membership, value $10 and a tie to each new graduate of the colleges. This initiative introduced by MAJGEN Morrison, the Principal CDSS and Commandant ACSC in 2006 continued in 2007 but ceased in 2008 as it was considered to devalue the Association. |
| 2008 | The decision was made to close the Alumni web site and incorporate the alumni function into the ADC Association. The option to take annual membership was removed due to the high administrative costs associated with this arrangement. All graduates and staff (registered with the Association) were henceforth considered ADCA members. |
| 2009 | The ADCA prize to ADFA was replaced by a prize to an ACSC graduate. |
| 2010 | The ADCA’s prizes to CDSS and ACSC renamed ‘The Robert Paul Joske Prize’ in memory of honorary life member and founder of the Yolla Prize, GPCAPT Rob Joske. |
