Military load carrying has occupied the attention of military developers, researchers and commanders over centuries. The Army backpack remains the means of carriage for ammunition and rations for the soldier in the field. The traditional rationale for its use has been that the infantry soldier must be able to sustain himself in combat and live independently for days at a time without resupply. At the Royal Military College, Duntroon (RMC), the mission is to produce men and women who are capable and effective officers and soldiers. The weight of the pack with the items required at RMC is often in excess of 40 kg. In evaluating the effectiveness of current practice, this thesis takes an anthropometric perspective in exploring the historical, physiological and social context of current loads carried by Australian soldiers, It does not, however, evaluate the content of the load itself. Research methods include: a/. Systematic examination of past research findings on the social and physiological aspects of military load carrying since the Roman Centurions. b/. Biophysical tesing of nine soldiers, using a battery of physiological tests to determine heart rates and energy expenditure at various loads. c/. A survey of 100 soldiers from the Royal Military College, Duntroon and in-depth interviews with a sample of four experienced soldiers to obtain the views of the load carriers. The research concludes that the optimum approach to load carrying, and so to the design of the Army backpack, is that it be task-and soldier-specific. This runs directly counter to the longstanding Army traditions of preparing all soldiers for every possible contingency in battle and regarding all soldiers as equivalent units. The study findings offer some specific directions in which the design of the army backpack can be improved. / Master of Science (Hons)