Sydney University Regiment

Sydney University Regiment
Cap badge of the Sydney University Regiment
Active	1900 – present
Country	Australia
Branch	Army Reserve
Type	Officer Training
Role	Army Reserve Officer Training
Size	Regiment
Part of	5 Brigade
Garrison/HQ	Sydney (Darlington)
Colours	Blue & Gold and Black & Red
Anniversaries	17 November 1900
Insignia
Unit Colour Patch

Sydney University Regiment (SUR) is an officer-training regiment of the Australian Army Reserve. Its predecessor, the University Volunteer Rifle Corps, was raised in 1900 as a unit of the colonial New South Wales Defence Force. During the 20th century, several changes of name and role occurred. Sydney University Regiment is headquartered in Holsworthy Barracks and has detachments in Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong.

The University Volunteer Rifle Corps (UVRC) was raised on 17 November 1900, as part of the colonial military forces of New South Wales. The University of Sydney was the colony's only university at the time, and two of its professors, T. W. Edgeworth-David and J. T. Wilson. VD, a former officer of the East Surrey Regiment, and employed as a teacher of physics at the university, encouraged the formation of a volunteer military unit.

Military training commenced in early 1901 with one hundred volunteers. The volunteers held their first parade in uniform later that year, when visited by the Duke of York, later to become George V. The UVRC appeared in public for the first time at a review ceremony in Centennial Park on the occasion of the coronation of Edward VII.

In 1903, the UVRC changed its name to the Sydney University Scouts (SUS) and the establishment had by then doubled to two rifle companies. When "universal" boyhood conscription was introduced in 1911, the Scouts' numbers increased, since all eligible undergraduates of the university were drafted into it and it became a militia battalion. At this time it also became responsible for the training of boy soldiers, the forerunner of today's Australian Cadet Corps, during their attendance at camps.

On the outbreak of the World War I, over sixty percent of the Scouts enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). Members of the Scouts served widely within the AIF. In mid-1918 a university company was recruited from students at the University of Sydney for active service in the AIF. The war ended before it mobilised for service.