7th Australian Base Ordnance Depot

Storage of 3.7 in Anti-Aircraft guns AWM photo 127253

3 ton crane unloading major mmachine tools AWM photo 127230

Brief History

Pre war this was a civilian unit known as Northern Command Ordnance Depot, located at Gaythorne in Queensland, with stores around the Brisbane area and a detachment at Sellheim near Charters Towers. The unit was militarised in May 1941, and had a number of reorganisations before settlng as Northern Command Advance Ordnance Depot in December 1941, responsible for the distribution of stores to units. Soon after it became Central Ordnance Depot (Brisbane), concentrationg thier efforts on raw materials, receiving stores from overseas and fropm manufacturers, and sending bulk supplies to other depots.

In July 1942 they were renamed 4th Central Ordnance Depot, and when base ordnance depots were reorganised in April 1943 it became 7th Australian Base Ordnance Depot under command of a Melbourne based headquarters. In July 1943 the sub depot at Mt Gravatt was seperated of as the the Motor Transport Vehicle Park. In April 1944 the unit strength was 12 officers and 260 men, and it continued to operate from Graythorne until the end of the war.

Unit Personnel

• William James (Jim) Harrison 6 Jul - 24 Aug 1944

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 5 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 5.323 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018