On 30 December 1941, after transferring responsibility for their defensive area to a Militia Light Horse machine gun regiment from South Australia, the battalion embarked upon two troopships, "Westralia" and "Marella", bound for Malaya via Port Moresby, Sydney and then Fremantle. Arriving on 4 January 1942, they were transferred to the transport "Aquitania", which was to take them the rest of the way. Before they had completed transferring the battalion's equipment, news was received that Rabaul, about north-east, had been bombed by carrier-based aircraft. Due to concerns that the aircraft may have been looking for the convoy, or US warships fleeing the Philippines, and that Port Moresby might be bombed next, the convoy's departure was advanced and so they sailed immediately. Instead of proceeding to Malaya, though, they were taken to Sydney, New South Wales, as it was decided that it would be safer to proceed via the southern route.