18th Australian Field Company

3 Nov 1943 at Donadabu, New Guinea. Troops of No 3 Platoon, 18th Aust Field Company rebuilding a bridge over Ewarigo Creek. AWM photo 059635

Brief History

This unit was formed at Ingleburn in November 1940 as the 18th Army Field Company and were mobilised at Narellan in December 1941. They moved to Beresfield in March 1942 to be attached to the 32nd Infantry Brigade Group. In May they moved to Toowoomba in Queensland to carry out construction work in the area, and then moved on to Selheim Camp to build a hospital, but left for New Guinea in December before completing the job. Arriving in Port Moresby in January 943 they worked on the construction of 2/5th Aust General Hospital, and while there were renamed 18th Australian Field Company in April 1943. In November, following the capture of Finschhafen they moved there until May 1944 when they retuned to Australia for leave.

Following their leave they reassembled at Kapooka in New South Wales for retraining and reassignment. In October 1944 they moved to Strathpine in Queensland and soon after joined the 9th Australian Infantry Division forces tasked with capturing the area around Brunei Bay which was intended to be used as a base for the British Pacific Fleet. In April 1945 they moved to the staging area on Morotai before landing on Labuan Island in June where tey remained building the base and wharf to support the 9th Division until the end of the war.

One member of the unit died accidentally while in New Guinea.

Unit Personnel

• Douglas Joseph (Doug) Mills 27 Oct 1944 - 14 Jan 1946

Individual Honours

• 1 x mentioned in Despatches

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 3 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 3.456 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018