Following the battalion's arrival in Adelaide, the men were billeted by locals in the city's suburbs while leave drafts were despatched throughout April. In early May, the 2/1st was reconstituted at Ingleburn, where it remained until June 1942, when the order came to move to Queensland. Moving up the coast via train, the battalion established a camp near Peachester, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Jungle training was undertaken there until September, when the 2/1st moved to another camp closer to the coast at Deception Bay. At the end of October, 'A' and 'B' Companies embarked in Brisbane, bound for New Guinea, to reinforce the troops fighting around Buna; en route they were diverted to Townsville, where they were unloaded. 'B' Company later re-embarked and arrived in Port Moresby in late November on the transport "Both", before moving to Oro Bay, where it was deployed defensively around the US base and the mission at Eroro. 'A' Company also deployed in December, and the following month also moved to Oro Bay. The rest of the battalion remained at Deception Bay in Queensland and did not link up with the other companies until May 1943, landing in Port Moresby from the "Duntroon". In the intervening period, the two deployed companies were temporarily detached to the Militia 7th Machine Gun Battalion, and 'A' Company went into action in the Pacific for the first time, fighting around Wau, before marching to Nassau Bay to support the 3rd Division during the Salamaua–Lae campaign.