 The battalion returned to Australia via Bombay, where the infantrymen were transferred to the troopship City of Paris in early February. They arrived in Adelaide, South Australia, on 24 March 1942. After this a period of leave followed, and then the battalion undertook defensive duties and training around Yandina, Queensland, before being dispatched along with the rest of the 7th Division to New Guinea where the situation on the Kokoda Track was becoming critical for the Australians as the Japanese advanced towards Port Moresby.
