I will dig out the appropriate page from the lineage book. The reorganisations of the army were:
1. 1903 when the six state armies were merged and re-numbered to form the new Australian army after Federation
2. 1912 when we adopted the 1909 report by Lord Kitchener making military service compulsory for junior cadets (ages 12 to 15), Senior Cadets (ages 15 to 18) and Militia (ages 18-25).
Australia was numbered into 93 military areas and most of them were given a brass number to be worn on the front of a slouch hat with a plain rising sun on the side. I have a photo of my father wearing number 32 but I have never been able to get the badge.
Some numbers were in reserve and a badge was never struck. The government did not mind if individual regiments had distinctive badges struck at their own expense. There are around 30 Infantry out of 93, mainly from Victoria, quite rare, and six or eight Light Horse for the 29 regiments, even rarer. In some cases, earlier badges with no number continued to be worn.
3. 1920s: Compulsion faded away after the war and a new part-time voluntary militia force was organised with 61 re-numbered Infantry battalions and 26 re-numbered Light Horse. Nearly all of these had their own badges.
When I started collecting, I was somewhat confused when I saw the same Ballarat Regiment badge with number 7 (1903-12), 70 (1912-18) and 8 (1930-42).
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