Disembarking in Cairns, Queensland, the battalion subsequently made camp at Ravenshoe, Queensland. Following a period of rest, training and re-organisation, in July 1943 the battalion received a batch of reinforcements from the 5th Motor Regiment, which had been disbanded. A small batch of reinforcements also came from &lt;a href="2/40th%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/40th Battalion&lt;/a&gt; personnel who had evaded capture in Timor. In August 1943, the 2/12th were sent to Port Moresby, where the 18th Brigade was being held in divisional reserve, while the rest of the 7th Division defended the approaches to Lae as part of the Finisterre Range campaign. On the last day of the year, the battalion was committed to the fighting in Finisterre Mountains. They were subsequently joined by the rest of the brigade on 4 January 1944 when it was airlifted to Dumpu to relieve the 21st Brigade. Throughout early 1944, the 2/12th was involved in the fighting around Shaggy Ridge, where they undertook several attacks to the north of the ridge, around the Protheroe I and II features between 21 and 24 January. Between February and April, they continued operations in the Ramu Valley, undertaking patrols before returning to Australia aboard the transport "Pahud" in May 1944.