51st Field Park Company

22 Mar 1946 Rabaul, road being prepared by 51 Field Park Company AWM photo 099906

Brief History

Field Park Companies provided engineering support to an Infantry Division. They included capacity to make or repair a wide range of engineering items, stores, and a bridging section.

51 Australian Field Park Company was mobilised at Ingleburn, NSW in December 1941, and then moved to Naellan in March 1942. In June they relocated to Campbelltown, and then in October to Dinmore, Qld. In March 1943 the unit was sent to Milne Bay in New Guinea providing a stores and workshop function for an expanding base. In March 1944 they were returned to the RAE Training Centre at Kapooka in NSW for leave and retraining before returning to Port Moresby in August 1944. They remained there until the cessation of hostilities, and were at that time preparing to move to Jacquinot Bay in New Britain.

Three men died while posted to the unit, one of illness, one from an accident and one other in an accidental drowning.

Unit Personnel

• Robert Thomas Buckenara 21 May - 15 Jun 1946

Individual Honours

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 3 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 3.495 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018