RSL National Office

 RSL Australia National Headquarters

Throughout the years

At the 40th Annual Congress of the League in October 1955 in Brisbane, Federal President Sir George Holland officially announced the National Executive had decided to move the Headquarters to Canberra. For some time, the RSL had considered moving to Canberra, a view supported by the Rt. Hon. R. G. Menzies in 1955: “I am looking forward with great pleasure to this Canberra establishment of yours at the seat of government, because it will enable us to meet constantly and on most occasions informally, to exchange views."

The RSL bought a building at 4 Mort Street, Braddon and made alterations and renovations prior to moving in on 14 February 1956. As Canberra expanded and the central business area became busier, the Headquarters became inundated by commercial and business activity and it was decided that a new home for the League was required.

By 1961, initial inquiries were made regarding the construction of a new building and in February 1962, the RSL National Executive formed a sub-committee to manage the process. A local architectural firm, Messrs Luker and Thompson, designed the building for which construction commenced in 1963.

When completed, the new RSL Headquarters was opened by His Excellency the Governor-General of Australia, the Rt. Hon. Viscount De L’ Isle VC PC GCMG GCVO KStJ on 7 August 1963.

Many dignitaries were present at the opening including Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, Dame Pattie Menzies, Service chiefs, RSL National President Mr A.J. Lee, RSL National Secretary Mr A.G.W. Keys and the Chairman of the Building Sub-Committee Mr K.C. Newman.

The building cost £65,000 and is located on the perimeter of the Parliamentary Triangle on Constitution Avenue in Campbell. The building’s place in the parliamentary triangle is indicative of the central place that the League holds in the Australian community.

The venue hosted National RSL Congresses, foreign ex-service chiefs, prime ministers, high commissioners, ambassadors and royalty. More than one hundred National RSL Executive meetings, hundreds of National RSL Committee meetings and countless community meetings.

In the early 2000s the League had outgrown its current facility and the building was coming to the end of its life. The national headquarters staff moved out of the building into temporary accommodation in 2011. Plans for a new Headquarters on the existing site on Constitution Avenue were approved in-principle, and a new building featuring an enlarged meeting space, an enhanced RSL national library, sufficient space to showcase the League’s memorabilia and the capacity to host visiting school groups to encourage the appreciation by younger generations of Australia’s rich military heritage and history, the heritage of the League itself and the values that the RSL strives to protect was envisioned. Unfortunately circumstances intervened and the original imagination of a new stand-alone building as the new headquarters for the RSL as it approached it's centenary did not come into fruition.

After many years of further planning, construction began in 2017 on the new complex of buildings, of which the RSL would purchase one of the commercial units. After the interior fitout was completed the RSL Australia national office finally moved back to Constitution Avenue, Campbell in early December 2019.

The new national office was officially opened by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), on 4 December 2019.