Royal Australian Corps of Signals troops to lead 2025 Anzac Day parades

The soldiers responsible for keeping communications online will have the honour of leading Anzac Day parades around the country. Read for details.

Signallers training in Tasmania in the 1930s. Image: Royal Australian Signals Association.

In celebrating 100 years of keeping communications online, army signallers will have the honour of leading Anzac Day parades around the country.

From Catafalque duties to torchbearer roles, ceremonies across the nation will feature soldiers from the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, which celebrates its 100th birthday this year.

In Darwin, 1st Combat Signal Regiment will headline ceremonial proceedings, including the Catafalque Party and the CBD march.

Commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Warren Williams said he was pleased his troops’ critical role would be acknowledged.

“As one of the unsung heroes of the brigade, some of our technology isn’t in the public light,” he said.

“So for us it’s a good opportunity to demonstrate exactly what we do and our role in the army.”

While the corps itself was formed in 1925, army signallers can trace their history back more than 150 years when the former colonies of NSW and Victoria had their own ‘torpedo and signals corps’.

In WWI, signallers served on the precarious battlefields of Turkey and France, where they were tasked with establishing and repairing telephone networks between trench lines.

Switchboard operators in World War II.

Their contribution continued into WWII, in which scale and technological sophistication reached new heights.

In 1948, His Majesty King George VI conferred the title ‘Royal’ to the corps, which has been retained ever since.

Today, signallers operate across several streams, including communications, electronic warfare and cyber activities.

“In (our early history) we had flags and lights to now satellite, mobile communications and ICT,” Lieutenant Colonel Williams said.

“We enable speed and decisiveness and ultimately effects on the battlefield.”

Beyond their contribution to the World Wars, ‘sigs’ have also deployed to various theatres such as Korea, Malaya, Borneo, Vietnam, Cambodia, Timor and the Middle East.

Such has been their impact, phrases, such as “no comms, no bombs”, have been coined to underscore the value signallers bring to the battlefield.

Signallers at Darwin’s Robertson Barracks now operate sophisticated kit and equipment.

Australian War Memorial director Matt Anderson called on the wider signaller community to march proudly on Friday.

“For 100 years, the Royal Australian Corps of Signals have been innovators, starting with radio transmissions in the 1920s though to cutting-edge cyber warfare today,” he said.

“We are encouraging current and former members of RA Sigs to march or simply attend the Australian War Memorial this Anzac Day, and to receive the acknowledgment they have so richly deserved.”

Originally published as Royal Australian Corps of Signals troops to lead 2025 Anzac Day parades