It was founded at Duntroon, in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence headquarters at Russell Hill.

Situated on the Campbell family homestead in Canberra, which had been named "Duntroon" in 1833 after Duntrune Castle – their ancestral home on Loch Crinan in Argyll, Scotland.

[3] The Australian Government first rented the Duntroon homestead for two years (November 1910 – July 1912) and acquired freehold to the estate and 150 hectares (370 acres) after the creation of the federal capital.

[6] Several British officers, including Lieutenant Colonel Charles Gwynn as Director of Military Art, were assigned as staff members of the college.

Nevertheless, it was decided to graduate the class early so that they could be sent to Gallipoli, where General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, said that "... each Duntroon-educated officer was ... worth his weight in gold".

[10] The college was forced to relocate to the Victoria Barracks, Sydney between 1931 and 1936 due to the economic downturn caused by the Great Depression.

[21] Following the war, the length of the course was set at four years again and efforts were made to increase the level of academic rigour in the college's programs.

This culminated in 1967 when the college affiliated with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to offer bachelor's courses in Arts, Science or Engineering, commencing in the 1968 academic year.

[10] The link with UNSW was almost severed in 1969 when Duntroon was the centre of an inquiry after Gerry Walsh, a member of the academic staff, revealed details of bastardisation passed on to him by a student at the college.

As a result of this change, Duntroon ceased to offer university degrees as ADFA became responsible for the academic training of Army cadets, as well as those from the Air Force and Navy.

[25] RMC's purview was expanded in 1995 as it "became responsible for the initial military training of all full-time, part-time and specialist service officers in the Australian Army".

[26] For full-time General Service Officer cadets though, the program remained essentially unchanged from that which had been established after the formation of ADFA, when the course had been reduced to 18 months, and broken up into three distinct classes—III (third), II (second) and I (first) Class.

[27] Under this program, which has been maintained since 1986, cadets who wish to pursue a degree attend ADFA for three years upon appointment, before going to Duntroon for 12 months, and starting the course in II Class.

This title came about due to the fact that originally graduates entered the Staff Officer Corps of the Australian Army.

Initially the Corps was organised into a single company, however, in 1922 the decline in the number of cadets being admitted meant that in reality only two platoons existed.

In 1947, when the four-year course was re-established following its suspension during the Second World War, the Corps was organised into two companies that were designated alphabetically 'A' and 'B'.

At this time the alphabetical designations were replaced with geographical names that were chosen based upon places where Australians had fought: Gallipoli, Bardia, Alamein and Kokoda.

[38] Following this expansion, however, the size of the Corps dropped and in 1958 the number of cadets had fallen to 200 and as a result Romani Company was disbanded.

The sixth company, Romani, is used for Reserve officers who come to the College in January and July to complete the final module of their training.

[44] The charter of the Royal Military College, Duntroon is "to produce officers capable of commanding platoon-sized elements in the Hardened and Networked Army concept, and to prepare specialist candidates for commissioning.

In January 2008, the Part-time Officers course was shortened to a duration of 104 days, with further employment training, specific to Corps allocation, conducted thereafter.

Essentially, this program involves undergraduate sponsorship of university students, who are appointed as Officer Cadets in the Australian Regular Army, while they study.

[51][52] In 1968 it became part of the Australian Army Band Corps and since then it has become a regular feature of the ceremonies and parades conducted at the college, as well as at other events around Australia and overseas.

Nevertheless, they continue to follow the Duntroon curriculum in modularised format, and Reserve officer cadets attend the college for their final four-week training block prior to commissioning.

[67] The following officers served as commandants of the college:[68][69] In 2010, a plaque dedicated to RMC graduates was placed on the ACT Honour Walk.

It reads: Situated at the former Campbell homestead at Duntroon, the RMC was opened on 27 June 1911 by the Governor-General, Lord Dudley.