In December 1941 with Japanese threatening islands to the north the Australian government decided to begin evacuating women and children from New Guinea, Papua, and Darwin. "Macdhui" along with , "Neptuna", and took the evacuees to ports in Australia out of immediate danger. After Japanese landing on Rabaul some of the troops evacuated to Port Moresby were transported to Townsville aboard "Macdhui" in late April 1942.