First Australian Army Provost Company

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Brief History

During the formation of the Second AIF in late 1939 a unit named Aust Overseas Base Provost Company was raised in Melbourne during November. In January 1940 they left for the Middle East arriving in Jerusalem in February. A detachment formed 1 Detention Barracks in March and later became a unit in its own right. In April they were renamed No 1 Provost Company (Line of Communication) and moved to Gaza from which base they operated throughout southern Palestine. In June they moved to Sarafand, but by December were at Rehovot. They returned to Australia in February 1942 with the 1st Australian Corps and were renamed 2/1st Line of Communication Provost Company.

They gathered after leave in Adelaide in April 1942, and moved to Toowoomba, Queensland, where they were restructured as First Australian Army Provost Company. They had detachments at Ipswich, Wallangarra, Warwick and Tenterfield as well as one at the NE Recruit Training Centre at Canungra. In January 1943 a detachment was set up at Yungaburra where units returning from New Guinea were training.

From February 1943 two sections of the 3rd Infantry Division Provost Company were attached when their parent units moved to New Guinea. In June a detachment was sent to the Thursday Island and when HQ First Aust Army moved to Mareeba in May 1944, a detachment went with them, with the rest of the unit following in July. Two sections moved to Torokina on Bougainville in November 1944 remaining there until the end of the war. In December 1944 the rest of the unit moved to Jacquinot Bay on New Britain. In February 1945 two sections moved to Port Moresby, and the unit remained active in all three areas until war's end.

Unit Personnel

• Eric William Wheatley 21 Jan 1942 - 1 Jul 1943

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 6 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 6.175 & 6.176 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018