page_title: 60th Battalion (Australia)
section_title: Inter-war years
hierarchical_section_title: 60th Battalion (Australia) / History / Inter-war years
caption_attribution_description: English: Australian soldiers from the 57th/60th Battalion advance up the Faria River
context_page_description: The 60th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was raised for service during World War I in 1916 and took part in the fighting on the Western Front for two-and-a-half years. Following the end of the war it was disbanded before being re-raised in 1921 as a part-time unit of the Citizen Force. In 1930, as a result of manpower shortages, the 60th was amalgamated with the 57th Battalion to form the 57th/60th Battalion and this unit subsequently saw service in the South West Pacific during World War II fighting against the Japanese, before being disbanded in 1946.
context_section_description: Following the war, Australia's part-time military force was re-organised in 1921 after the demobilisation of the AIF was completed. Through a process of redesignating the previously existing infantry regiments of the Citizen Force, the battalion was raised again in the state of Victoria. With its headquarters at Westgarth, it was once again assigned to the 15th Brigade, although at divisional level they were placed under the 3rd Division, and the battalion drew its personnel from a number of previously existing part-time units such as the 2/60th Infantry, 2/29th Infantry, 5/29th Infantry and 29th Light Horse Regiments, which had been established in 1918 in the regimental areas from where the 60th Battalion had drawn its recruits when it was formed in 1916.
  In 1927, territorial titles were introduced and the 60th Battalion went through a number of name changes: firstly the "Brunswick Carlton Infantry Regiment", the "Jika Jika Regiment" and finally "The Heidelberg Regiment". At this time it adopted the motto "Celer Et Audax", meaning "Swift and Bold". In 1930, following the suspension of the compulsory training scheme by the newly elected Scullin Labor government and the establishment of the all-volunteer Militia scheme, a combination of a lack of volunteers and economic austerity measures following the Great Depression resulted in the battalion being amalgamated with the 57th Battalion, to become the 57th/60th Battalion (Merri/Heidelberg Regiment). They would remain linked for the next 16 years, seeing action in World War II in the South West Pacific in the New Guinea and Bougainville campaigns during 1943–45, before finally being disbanded on 30 March 1946. After the war, the 60th Battalion was not re-raised, although in 1961, it was awarded 10 battle honours for World War II, which it bore for the 57th/60th Battalion.
caption: Men from the 57th/60th Battalion advance up the Faria River in February 1944
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