2/3rd Australian Port Operating Company

Unit Colour Patch 1943 - 45

Unit Colour Patch 1945

Brief History

The 2/3rd Docks Operating Company was formed at Watsonia in Victoria during March 1942 before moving to the St Kilda Showground in April. In June B Group which comprised three sections moved to Cairns to join '3 Sec of 2/1 Docks Operating Company while the main body travelled to Darwin to join the main body of 2/1 Docks Operating Company". Soon after their arrival in Darwin, the need for the Army to manage the Townsville port arose and the main body of 2/3rd Docks Operating Company moved there, basing themselves at Mundingburra. In January 1943 the unit moved to Cairns, with two sections detached to Milne Bay, and one to Thursday Island. The Milne Bay sections were relieved in September and returned to Cairns, and the Thursday Island detachment in December.

With the Cairns port returning to civilian operation in January 1944 the unit returned to the RAE Training base at Kapooka in New South Wales. There they were split to form the 8th Docks Operating Company, both units operating with a reduced establishment. The next move was to Meadowbank in February, and then Darwin in March where they were based at Larrakeyah until October when they moved to Parap. In November they returned to Cairns to help manage the significant increase in traffic through that port, and then in March 1945 they moved to Morotai which was being used as a staging base for the landings on Borneo. In July the 2/3rd Australian Docks Operating Company accompanied the 7th Australian Infantry Division's' landing at Balikpapan to develop and operate the port until the end of the war. All docks units were transferred from the Engineers to the new Transportation Corps in August 1945, and they were renamed 2/3rd Australian Port Operating Company.

Unit Personnel

• Jack Cartwright

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 3 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, pages 3.535 & 3.536 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018