1st Tank Battalion (Australia)

1st Royal New South Wales Lancers
Cap badge of the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers.
Active	1885–1956
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Line Cavalry
Size	Regiment
Garrison/HQ	Parramatta, New South Wales
Engagements	Second Boer War First World War Second World War

The 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers was an Australian Army light cavalry (reconnaissance) regiment. Its complicated lineage includes the New South Wales Lancers which were first formed as a colonial unit in 1885 as the New South Wales Cavalry, and subsequently saw action in the Second Boer War, and later during First World War at Gallipoli and Palestine as the 1st Light Horse Regiment. The unit subsequently served during the Second World War as the 1st Armoured Regiment equipped with Matilda tanks, fighting the Japanese in New Guinea and Borneo.

The Lancers were reformed after the Second World War in 1948 as a reserve formation in the Citizens Military Forces (CMF) known as the 1st Armoured Regiment (Royal New South Wales Lancers). In 1949, the regiment was renamed the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers however, in order to reallocate the former name to the tank regiment that was to be established in the new Australian Regular Army. In 1956, the 1st Royal New South Wales Lancers was merged with the 15th Northern River Lancers to create the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers, a unit which continues to serve today in the Australian Army Reserve.

The unit's complicated lineage included the New South Wales Lancers, which had been first formed as the New South Wales Cavalry, a reserve colonial unit in 1885 and had later served in the Second Boer War. A half squadron of the Regiment had been in Great Britain where they participated in the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. When war was declared they were transported to South Africa. The Lancers contributed a squadron that had served under John French in Lord Roberts' army, and participated in a counter-invasion of the Orange Free State that eventually lifted the Siege of Kimberley in 1900.