7th Australian War Graves Unit

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Brief History

This unit existed under 5 different names from its inception at Narellan in New South Wales in December 1941 as the 7th Military District Graves Registration & Enquiry Unit, to the 7th Australian War Graves Unit in July 1944.

Once formed, it moved to Darwin before returning to NSW (Ingleburn) to be split into 2 units, the 7th and 8th Military Distict Graves Registration & Enquiry Units. The later then moved to Port Moresby, while the former moved to Larrakeyah near Darwin in January/February 1942. In May they moved to Adelaide River where a site was identified to provide a major War Cemetery to service northern Australia. Relieved in August 1943, they enjoyed a period of leave before moving to Townsville from where they maintained war graves in northern Queensland. In April 1944 they relocated to Buna in New Guinea, and in November they moved to Aitape. When Wewak was captured in May 1945, the unit moved there in June to establish a War Cemetery. In November 1945 they were relieved, and on their return to Australian during January 1946 they were disbanded.

Unit Personnel

• Alan Kirwan Donaldson 13 Nov - 17 Dec 1945