usertron2020
Donor
Re the 8th Division, they were not conscripts or Militia. They were Australian Imperial Force (AIF), volunteers fot overseas service. Under Australian law at the time, the only permanent forces the Commonwealth Govt could maintain were artillery, instructional and some support. Everyone else was Militia which could only serve within Aust, territory. (This went back to Federation in order to make sure that London could'nt simply order Aussie troops wherever.) Thus a new seperate force, the AIF, had to be raised for o/s service.
The Milita were a mix of conscripts and volunteers and most not that well trained at this point.
So if I understand you correctly, Militia had volunteers and conscripts, and in the same units? AIUI, ITTL Militia units are allowed to deploy overseas. OTL, this occurred much later (near the end of 1942 IIRC) and only in campaigns in the relative vicinity of Australia, such as New Guinea and the DEI. Are conscripts and volunteers segregated? Or together in the same units? This sounds a lot like the US Army system.
When did a Militia Unit cease to be considered so, and a regular division instead, like the 6th and 7th?
Note-technically US Marines were all volunteer but it was not unusual for Marine noncoms to go to the army induction centers and grab the best of the bunch. Since these were hand-picked, and those who failed to make it through Parris Island went back to the Army, the US military got them regardless.