1st Armoured Regiment (Australia)

1st Armoured Regiment
Cap badge of the 1st Armoured Regiment
Active	7 July 1949 – Present
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Armoured
Size	One regiment
Part of	1st Brigade
Garrison/HQ	Robertson Barracks, Darwin and RAAF Base Edinburgh
Motto(s)	Latin: Paratus ("Prepared")
March	Quick—Radetski Slow—Grand March from Aida
Engagements	Vietnam War
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief	HRH The Prince of Wales (Colonel-in-Chief, RAAC)
Colonel of the Regiment	Major General Roger Powell AM
Insignia
Unit Colour Patch
Abbreviation	1AR

1st Armoured Regiment is an armoured regiment of the Australian Army and is the senior regiment of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps. Formed as a tank unit in the new Australian Regular Army on 7 July 1949, the regiment subsequently saw service during the Vietnam War operating Centurion tanks. Currently the unit is based in Darwin and Edinburgh, South Australia as part of the 1st Brigade. As part of the Plan Beersheba reorganisation, the unit has become one of three Armoured Cavalry Regiments (ACRs) assigned to the Army's multirole combat brigades in Brisbane, Darwin and Townsville. Each ACR will be equipped with M1A1 tanks, ASLAV light armoured vehicles, and M113 armoured personnel carriers.

The 1st Armoured Regiment was raised as a regular unit on 7 July 1949 at Puckapunyal in Victoria when the 1st Armoured Car Squadron, which had returned from occupation duties in Japan a few months earlier, was converted to a tank unit. The formation occurred following the renaming of a reserve unit of the Citizens Military Forces (CMF) of the same name, which subsequently became the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers and its battle honours and history perpetuated by this unit, in order to reallocate the name to the tank regiment that was to be established in the new Australian Regular Army. At first only one squadron strong, planning commenced to expand to full strength as soon as possible under the command of Major Cecil Ives. Formal affiliation with the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) was recognised two years later and the regiment adopted their regimental colours of Brown, Red and Green, which date back to the Battle of Cambrai during the First World War in 1917. These same colours had also been used by the Australian Tank Corps prior to the Second World War.