In January 1943, the 2/8th was withdrawn to Australia as the 9th Division was brought back to join the fight against Japanese forces in the Pacific. The regiment, sailing aboard the Dutch transport, "Nieu Amsterdam", made landfall at Melbourne on 24 February 1943. The regiment was based at Seymour, Victoria, while personnel went on leave, but in April the 2/8th Field Regiment relocated to the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland. While the rest of the 9th Division was subsequently employed in New Guinea in landings around Lae and in the fighting on the Huon Peninsula, the 2/8th was not deployed as the 9th Division's artillery complement was reduced as part of its conversion to the jungle divisional establishment. As a result, the 2/8th did not see action again until late in the war, when they took part in the Borneo campaign in June 1945.