5th Machine Gun Battalion Camp

Lt-Col Robert Hawke raised the unit on 4 September 1942, and by 31 January 1943, the unit embarked the Taroona at Thursday Island. C and D Company moved immediately to Horn Island, where they took up position around the airstrip, while B Coy soon moved to from Goodes Island back to Horn Island. The unit had been sent to Torres Strait as part of McArthur’s Moultrie Plan for the area and took their place in the defence of Horn Island. They protected the airstrip and King Point area, and took part in the mobile defensive force of the island. Other duties included continuous training on Horn Island and Prince of Wales Island, wharf duties, providing thousands of tonnes of fish for the island’s defence force personnel, supporting troops at Muttee Head on Cape York, and publishing the Horn Herald and Zero Post both very popular publications with the troops. The unit was officially disbanded on 18 July 1944.