Z SPECIAL UNIT
An Australian army unit called Z SPECIAL UNIT was established to administer Australian Army personnel and civilians assigned to ISD, and later to SRD, and as such Z Special Unit appears on the service records of every Australian soldier who was assigned to either of those organisations. Z Special Unit does not appear on the service records of RAAF, RAN or British, NZ, Canadian or South African personnel assigned to ISD or SRD, since they weren’t enlisted in the Australian Army.
An administrative entity with no combat or special operations role, Z Special Unit was also used to requisition stores and transport through Australian Army channels and at this it excelled, having been given carte blanche permission to draw any stores required. There are cases where Colonels were removed from transport aircraft to make room for SRD Corporals. Such was the administrative power of Z Special Unit.
However, "Z Special Unit" or "Z Force" became common terms for the organisation in the post-war years, even among SRD Veterans. Although it is historically inaccurate to refer to the special operations organisation as Z Special Unit, it does seem to help some folks wrap their head around the whole thing. And besides, who doesn’t love the post-war Z Special Unit Association’s logo consisting of a “Z” with a killing knife through it?