5 January 2012

Unusual team names in the public service?

| rummij
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Division and branch names in the public service are pretty bureacratic and standardised, such that they often have no meaning at all. I worked at a Department that had a ‘Strategy’ branch and a ‘Strategic Policy’ branch, for example (on different floors obviously).

But when you get down to team/section level, people start to get creative with titles. I’ve heard of sections around the PS over the years called ‘Last Ports of Call’, ‘Working Holidays’, ‘Slips, Trips and Falls’, ‘Forward Strategy’, and I worked briefly in one called ‘Over the Horizon’.

Anybody else got any good ones?

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Waiting For Godot said :

When I was at Dept of Finance in the 1970s/80s there was a division called Defence and Government…. DAGS.

Heh. Which is probably why it is now called Government and Defence Division! It’s still there.

Woody Mann-Caruso11:28 am 06 Jan 12

Late 60?s or early 70?s

I have been there 10 years now, and I have never heard referred to as ‘F-Troop

Is that you, Agarn?

How about the ‘Petrol Sniffing Team’…….

I worked in a hospital at one stage and the major project in the Lower GI department was called “JANUS”.

Waiting For Godot10:28 am 06 Jan 12

When I was at Dept of Finance in the 1970s/80s there was a division called Defence and Government. During departmental sporting contests they used to wear t-shirts with a lightning strike symbol and the letters DAGS.

Felix the Cat9:45 am 06 Jan 12

Australian National University Security ANUS

GA has got the OGRE (Optical Geospatial Radar and Elevation Data Panal)

DermottBanana8:43 am 06 Jan 12

In the mid 90s, there was a section of the ATO in Belconnen whose initials spelled out “URSA”
And it just happened to be setup and led by a bloke whose last name was Bear.

colourful sydney racing identity7:53 am 06 Jan 12

Worked at DEEWR did you?

It is a bit odd to have a strategic policy branch, do they also have an unstrategic policy branch?

Frustrated said :

basketcase said :

Late 60’s or early 70’s, the employees of the Department of Defence knew it as “F Troop” after the satirical TV show of that name. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_Troop

Wonder if it still has that nick, my guess is that nothing has changed over the last 40 years.

I have been there 10 years now, and I have never heard referred to as ‘F-Troop’ maybe this was the military guys and not the civvies.

I believe the nomenclature commonly used (at least by those outside the department) is “Fort Fumble”.

The old ACT Parks and Gardens was universally known as Weeds and Seeds.

We have a branch with the acronym CESP… it is jokingly called Cess-pool

Not to mention the recently dissolved PIE team 🙁

Once spoke to someone from “signs and lines” when I sarcastically suggested he meant “holes and poles” he replied no,I’m from signs and lines.Makes me wonder if there actually is a dept. of holes and poles.

basketcase said :

Late 60’s or early 70’s, the employees of the Department of Defence knew it as “F Troop” after the satirical TV show of that name. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_Troop

Wonder if it still has that nick, my guess is that nothing has changed over the last 40 years.

I have been there 10 years now, and I have never heard referred to as ‘F-Troop’ maybe this was the military guys and not the civvies.

Thoroughly Smashed9:30 pm 05 Jan 12

CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products became known as “The Departure Lounge” as it was being gutted towards the end of the Howard years.

ANU has numerous whimsical department/faculty names, BoZo (Botany and Zoology) and BaMBi (Biochemistry and Microbiology) come immediately to mind.

CSIRO have an Astronomy and Space Science (ASS) division…

Late 60’s or early 70’s, the employees of the Department of Defence knew it as “F Troop” after the satirical TV show of that name. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_Troop

Wonder if it still has that nick, my guess is that nothing has changed over the last 40 years.

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