Dr Ainslie Meares built "Meares House" as it is now called, in 1936. Two years earlier he had married Bonnie Byrne, and they had honeymooned overseas in England and Europe. In England they had been particularly attracted to a very pretty little village called Aldermaston, and so they decided to call their new home "Aldermaston". The house was built on 247 acres Dr Meares purchased from the Wragge family, who had held the property for nearly a hundred years.

In 1938 the Army requisitioned 100 acres of Meare's property for training requirements. In 1941 Army purchased this property and requisitioned the remaining 147 acres for training which it later bought in 1951. Meares House and the surrounding area were used as a medical training area and the house became a hospital. The area also included administration staff, a camp reception and transit camp for the troops. Although given the official title of "Camp Q', by 1942 the area had become known as "Watsonia Camp".

In 1982, with the closure of Balcombe Army Camp, the Army School of Music relocated to Meares House in Simpson Barracks. Instruction was delivered in what is now the Commandants' office, with band rehearsal's in the area theatre, now the weights room of the gymnasium. In June 1984, Meares House became the headquarters of the newly designated Defence Force School of Music.