7th Australian Army Troops Company

[[File:]]

Brief History

Formed at Karrakatta in late 1939 to undertake works projects through out Western Australia. They were mobilised at Ascot racecourse in December 1941, before moving to Nungarin in January 1942. In March they moved base to Guildford, and then in July 1943 to Morphett Creek (on Stuart Highway north of the turn off to Camooweal in Queensland). From here they had detachments working on construction and maintenance of supply routes to Larrimah from Alice Springs and Mt Isa in Queensland. As sea-lanes to Darwin were safer and opened up to cargo ships these land routes lost importance and the unit moved to Noonanbah in August 1944, concentrating at Howard Springs briefly before leaving for Kapooka in New South Wales in November 1944. Following a rest and retraining, they were sent to Torokina in Bougainville during March 1945 to relieve the 5th Australian Army Troops Company, undertaking construction, maintenance tasks as well as operating the base sawmill.

Unit Personnel

• Angus Sherwood James 5 Feb 1943 - 10 Oct 1945