120th Australian Brigade Workshop

17 May 1944 Wongabel, Qld, Troops from 120th Aust Brigade Workshop in their mobile workshop. AWM 066374

Brief History

In February 1942 the 55th Division Ordnance Workshop was formed at Mt Martha to work with the 4th Infantry Division while the 6th Brigade Section was formed at Gherang to work with the 6th Infantry Brigade Group. The 6th Brigade Section moved to Western Australia in April 1942, establishing a workshop at Blackboy Hill. They were renamed 2 Section, 55th Division Ordnance Workshop in August and moved north to Yandanooka in September. Renamed again in November, this time to 4th Infantry Division Ordnance Workshop, their 2nd Section became 6th Infantry Brigade Section which moved to Guildford with the main workshop. With AEME taking over all workshop functions the unit became 4th Infantry Division Workshop. In April the 6th Infantry Brigade Section did not follow the 6th Infantry Brigade Group to Queensland, but moved to Bellevue where in April 1943 they were re-organised to form the 120th Independent Brigade Group Workshop which then became the 120th Brigade Workshop in June, working with the 3rd Aust Corps. In November they moved to Inglewood, and in response to declining troop numbers in Western Australia hey left Western Australia in January 1944.

Following some leave in Victoria, hey moved to Wongabel in Queensland in March 1944 working with units of the 1st Aust Corps while waiing for deployment as part of the forces destined for Borneo. In may 1945 they moved forward to the staging area at Morotai, and in July moved to Balikpapan where they supported units of the 7th Base Sub Area until the end of the war.

Unit Personnel

• Stanley George Jarick 20 Apr - 20 Aug 1943

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 5 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, pages 5.571 & 5.572 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018