1st Australian Corp Petrol Parkaustcorppetrolpark.thejohnnos.id.au/ACPP_Files/PetrolPark.pdf ·...

1st Australian Corp Petrol Park

2/105 General Transport Company 2/106 General Transport Company

Introduction

The 1st Australian Corp Petrol Park was formed at Puckapunyal Victoria in

early 1940 in order to provide transport service to the 7th Division. It was

comprised of a Headquarters Section and two Sub Parks Nos 1 & 2 each with

their own workshops section.

The unit served in many theatres of war including :-

Palestine Syria

Egypt New Guinea

Libya Morotai

Greece Borneo

Crete

The two Sub Parks were rarely together and generally operated

independently of each other The last time all units of Corp Petrol Park were

together was at Hadett in Lebanon in 1941 and shortly afterwards, before

leaving the Middle East, No 1 Sub Park was reformed as the 2/106 General

Transport Company and No 2 Sub Park as the 2/105 General Transport

Company.

Puckapunyal

May 1940 To December 1940

Horsing around at

Puckapunyal May 1940.

Joe Thompson with Harry

(Bluey) Sporle.

The tin huts were not lined

and were freezing in the

winter months.

Convoy to the Middle East

via Colombo

December 1940

The unit embarked on the Mauretania at Port Melbourne on the 29th

December 1940. Leaving in the afternoon the ship anchored overnight at Portsea. The following morning after passing through the heads rendezvous was made with a convoy from Sydney. Among the ships in the convoy were the Queen Mary, Acquitania, Dominion Monarch and Awatea with navy escorts. The Awatea carried New Zealand troops.

At Colombo the unit was transferred to the Rona an Indian army troopship as the Mauretania was too large to negotiate the Suez Canal. The Rona duly arrived at Kantara a railhead on the Suez Canal on the 20th January 1941 from where we went by train across the Sinai Desert to Palestine and our first camp at Hill 69.

Ships in convoy to Middle East December 1940

Ships in convoy to

Middle East December

1940

Ships in convoy to Middle East December 1940

Acquatania in Colombo harbour.

Escorting the convoy

Convoy in line

Hospital ship in convoy

Aboard the Mauretania

It was cooler to sleep on deck.

Boxing match on board the Mauretania

We transferred to the Rona, an Indian army trropship at Colombo.

Eating and sleeping area on board the Rona. Hammocks were slung

over the mess tables at night.

Troops with the pet goat of the Rona’s crew. Great trouble arose when the goat was

adorned with an army cap, spectacles and a notice around its neck reading “ OC

Troops”.

Entering the Suez Canal

Along the Suez Canal

Disembarked from Rona at

Kantara then entrained for trip to

Palestine. Photo of unit bugler at

Kantara railway station alongside

troop train.

View of Sinai desert taken from train.

Hill 69 - PalestineJanuary 1941

Initially at Hill 69 the unit had very little equipment having only a few trucks that

were obtained from the motor pool at Barbara. Consequently the only work that

was done was to service our own needs.

Troops were given leave to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and at one stage had a

bivouac of several days at a Jewish kibutz at Rehovot.

After No2 Sub Park left for Libya No1 Sub Park were equipped with more trucks

and commenced carrying supplies and equipment from Egypt to areas of

Palestine.

Sentry duty at Hill 69 our first camp in Palestine

Egypt

Libya

Greece

Crete

With No2 Sub Park

No2 Sub Park were moved to Egypt and were based at Mersa Matruh.

They operated west along the coast road taking supplies as far as

Tobruk and Benghasi. On the return trip to Mersa Matruh they

transported Italian prisoners of war for interment.

When Germany invaded Greece the Sub Park returned to Alexandria and

were shipped to Greece. During the disastrous Greecian campaign all

the unit’s vehicles and equipment were lost. In the evacuation some

troops escaped to Crete while others were returned to Egypt. The

following personnel were taken prisoner by the Axis –

No2 Sub Park was reformed and returned to the Western Desert

operating on the Div-Axis track inland from the coast along the

escarpment. They were based at Side Barrani adjacent to the RAF air

strip. One of their duties was to supply a British Armoured Division and

supporting troops. Tobruk at this stage was under siege and could be

reached only from the sea.

When The Syrian campaign began the Sub Park was moved back to

Nahoriyah in Palestine and then to Hadett in Lebanon.

Palestine

Egypt

With No 1 Sub Park

Just prior to commencement of the Syrian campaign No1 Sub Park became more

active in ferrying supplies and equipment from Port Tewfik the port of Suez in Egypt

to the pool at Barbara in Palestine.

To assist in this work some troops were transferred to a staging camp at Tel el Kebir

in Egypt while others travelled by train from near Barbara to Kantara on the Suez

Canal, then catching another train into Egypt to pick up trucks & equipment for

driving back to the pool in Barbara. This exercise went on for several weeks.

Later the Sub Park became fully equipped when it was issued with trucks from the

pool at Barbara. These trucks were to serve the Sub Park for the remainder of the

war being returned to Australia from the Middle East and then being shipped to the

South Pacific area and later Borneo.

One of the first jobs with the new trucks was to transport troops and supplies from

Palestine to the Syrian border. This was done at night on the inland route through

Nablus, Jenin and Nazareth without the use of headlights as an air raid warning was

given at the start. On returning over the same rugged route we were amazed that

the trip up had been negotiated without any accidents.

The Sub Park then moved up the coast road to Lebanon being camped at several

locations including Ally, Tripoli ,Homs and Hadett. From these and other camps the

unit operated throughout Lebanon and Syria. While at Hadett, Fred Rusher was

killed in a deliberate smash caused by a Vichy French driver after the armistice. It

was here too that Petrol Park became united again with the return of No2 Sub Park.

The winter in Lebanon and Syria was extremely cold with snow falling right to the

shore line along Lebanon. One night whilst at Hadett a bad storm hit the camp site

with a lot of lightning resulting in one of our members being struck. Syd Day had

been on leave in Beirut and on returning to camp had retired to bed to sleep off a

heavy session on the grog. He awoke through the night and went outside in the

storm and in the nude to relieve himself. After some time elapsed it was noticed

Syd had not returned and his tent mates on going outside found him unconscious

and purple from head to foot. Perhaps the grog was a good insulator as Syd

gradually recovered and was unaware of what had happened.

Beersheba January 1942

Beersheba January 1942.

Remains of World War 1

trenches.

Sinai Desert January 1942

Bill Black with

unexploded bomb in front

of bomb crater.

Roy McAlpine & Hugh Brady with unexploded bombs that

fell in transit area 3rd February 1942.

REORGANISATION & DEPARTURE FROM MIDDLE EAST

During our final days in the Lebanon and Syria a reorganisation took place and

the 1st Australian Corp Petrol Park was disbanded with No2 Sub Park becoming

the 2/105 Australian General Transport Company and No1 Sub Park becoming

the 2/106 Australian General Transport Company.

With the entry of Japan into the war it was decided to transfer the 7th Division

with some corp troops to support the 8th Division in Malaya and both the 2/105

and 2/106 were to become part of the force. At this time both companies were

brought up to strength with reinforcements from the 9th Division Cavalry.

Using our own vehicles the two units moved to Port Tewfik the port of Suez to

find the harbour full of troop ships and tramp steamers. The trucks of both

companies were to be loaded on the tramp steamers with their drivers and a

few other personnel to look after equipment. The remaining personnel were to

be ferried by barges to the troop ships.

From this time 2/105 and 2/106 were never together again as all 2/105 troops

on board the Orcades became prisoners of war. A more in depth account of

their time as prisoners can be obtained from Jack Riley’s book “We Were Sold

A Pup.”

2/105 Australian General

Transport Company

The 2/105 were taken aboard the Orcades which departed on the 29th January

1942, the first ship to leave the Middle East . After a brief stop at Colombo they

sailed on escorted by the cruiser HMS Dorsetshire. They were told their destination

was Singapore but on learning Singapore had fallen they were landed on Sumatra

to defend an airfield. However on finding this had already been captured by the

Japanese they were returned to the Orcades and proceded to Tandjoeng Priok the

port of Batavia in Java. They landed on the 19th February 1942 and together with

other troops from the Orcades were formed into a Brigade by Brigadier Blackburn.

This force with little equipment offered stiff resistance to the invading Japanese but

with the surrender of the Dutch and being hopelessly outmanned Brigadier

Blackburn had no alternative but to surrender also. This occurred on the 9th March

1942.

Not everyone surrendered and some joined the Dutch underground including John

Douglas from the 2/105. John was captured and severely tortured but refused to

divulge information of his fellow resistance workers. He was executed on the 11th

April 1943. Later many of the resistance workers told of John’s courage and

fortitude, and of his cheerfulness and inspiration to others. The Dutch posthumously

granted him the Resistance Medal on the 29th December 1980.

HMT Orcades at Port Tewfik the port of Suez. The area had been heavily

bombed and several ships had been sunk in the port.

2/106 Prisoners Of War In Burma

• Transported by King Kong Maru on the 7th October 1942 to Singapore under

appalling conditions landing on the 11th October.

• Left Singapore on the 14th October aboard the Mayebasse Maru and arrived

in Burma at Rangoon on the mouth of the Irrawady River. Transhipped to a

shallower vessel the Yinagata Maru to negotiate the Salween River to

Moulmein

• After four days in Moulmein jail went by rail to Thanbuzayat a railhead 40

miles from Moulmein. Here the prisoners were to help build a railway line 260

miles through the Burma jungle to the border of Siam (Thailand) then through

that country to Kon Kita to assist the Japanese in their push to India.

• Camps were shifted further along the line as work progressed but the

frightful conditions endured throughout. Lack of food and poor sanitary

conditions resulted in many deaths from fevers, dysentery, beri beri and

ulcers while others died from mistreatment by the Japanese guards. Several

died or were injured from bombing raids.

• In December 1943 those remaining were loaded into cattle trucks and

travelled by train to Siam to continue the line extension there. The Japanese

also required working parties for road maintenance and building a new

airfield.

2/106 Prisoners Of War In Siam.

• Camp was established on the Meklong River at Tamarkan. Here for a while

conditions improved with food rations being far better than what was provided

in Burma.

• Several troops were sent as a maintenance gang for sometime to repair the

line after several trains had been derailed through deliberate faulty

workmanship.

•Several groups were detached with some being sent to Japan to work in the

coal mines and to other places as working parties.

2/105 General Transport Company – Prisoners Of War

** Died In Captivity

QX18207 Adams C R VX25010 Aldag W

VX33861 Allen L T VX30643 Anderson J F

VX20241 Anderson T J M VX22754 Backshall M J

** VX47134 Bambach P J VX19616 Barlow M J

** VX24400 Beales K S VX16160 Beer G W

** VX18678 Bell E F WX11799 Bell W V

TX5349 Bennet J VX22568 Berryman C K

QX9981 Best G L VX47480 Booth R J

** SX9207 Bosley T H R ** VX18712 Bower J E

VX50577 Bower K S C VX31237 Braithwaite L W

VX31413 Brander J J VX25103 Bray D

** VX22986 Brereton A J ** VX22777 Brereton R G

VX17845 Briggs R C VX16928 Brown H J



VX22304 Brown K

VX22206 Bryant E W ** VX17846 Burandt E A

WX12226 Burke P VX30446 Cameron R W

VX23253 Carrol B V VX19689 Cay P H

SX8673 Chapman R K D VX 18653 Christian R M

** Qx20007 Clarris A R G VX27107 Clay B E

** WX7995 Collins E G VX23617 Conquest K E

VX18349 Cooper K G ** NX52182 Cooper N C

VX43821 Critchley J VX27806 Daley J A

** VX36368 David E VX22637 Davidson R J

** VX30002 Davies B F T ** VX18456 Davis G H

** NX53940 Dawes L P VX54712 Denton A W

QX19472 Docherty D SX12956 Docking G H

** VX15035 Douglas J ** VX38839 Downie W

QX23252 Drysdale R J VX18093 Eastwell T

NX21807 Eaton W L VX59216 Eustace V L

** VX34182 Edgar F F VX47533 Fagan T H

** QX18021 Fallon H A VX30415 Ferguson J J

VX20640 Fisher G R ** VX21409 Fisher W J



QX19492 Flynn J J ** VX14293 Forbes J H

VX23144 Fordham K T VX22656 Frampton H J

** VX53389 Forrest J G ** VX30714 Forrest H A

VX57672 Forrest H R QX20019 Gants J

VX37967 Gardiner R C SX13265 Gasmier A O

VX21514 Gleeson A A A NX57817 Goodwin R

** VX37662 Gordon G E QX18123 Greer F J

VX24592 Green W R ** VX22229 Grigg S L

VX43822 Harding R F VX21120 Harris N S

VX15168 Harrison F C ** VX20253 Hitchens R

** QX19389 Holliman W C C VX50201 Hortle R B

VX15723 Howitt C NX4734 Hudson W T

VX15166 Humphries F W QX14683 Hunter D S

VX29008 Hurst J NX22444 Jensen V

VX17799 Johnson F E VX17858 Johnston J

VX18636 Johnston L H ** SX1941 Johnston N

** VX18459 Jones L J ** VX22752 Jones W A

** VX23874 Justice J B ** VX58675 Kelso J B

** VX19969 Kemp W VX20217 Kempler E

VX37068 Kerwin A K VX54914 Kettlewell G A



WX10495 King C H ** VX25619 King G

** VX40360 Knight F W VX21636 Kruse L W

NX2743 Lacey N V VX23515 Lane R D J

VX51489 Larter L T D VX36439 Laxton J McD

** VX15156 Leeson R M VX19178 Lester C S

** VX37259 Lewcock L S QX20242 Lofthouse J H

** VX36547 Lovick T VX12548 Macaulay G

** NX72960 McAuley F C VX47801 McCarthy S L

VX20411 McCready M L ** WX12209 McCullough W

VX22525 McDonald P M VX37274 McEwan C W E

** VX32455 McFarland W J VX47057 McKenzie A E

** VX20661 McLeod R A VX36320 McMahon J

NX2741 Mann E VX21145 Mayers D G

** VX28897 Mayman K H QX11111 Meiklejohn G D S

VX30505 Miles W E ** VX21513 Millgate L V

** VX30228 Mills L J NX56809 Mitchell E J G

VX20255 Mitchell G H ** VX16099 Moody A E

** VX23878 Moyle L G ** VX18680 Munro AC

VX17010 Murray E F ** VX20516 Nevins R

VX47761 New B E ** VX20449 Newton W

** VX18938 Norris W H VX10414 Norrish G E



NX58360 O’Brien F M VX57010 Olle P R

VX16898 Panioty N J QX14104 Parker W E

** VX20509 Paterson W A ** VX18134 Payne T S

VX52546 Pitcher V W VX57086 Pocock J D

VX15153 Polson A VX15858 Powell E C

** VX18240 Pretlove A VX20502 Prosser A I F

VX48702 Reid G W VX51718 Riley J H

VX21878 Robinson R R VX19016 Robinson R W

VX20211 Roots C E D VX24698 Ross J M

WX1301 Sanders M B WX11841 Schofield M F

VX18050 Scott P VX42510 Scoullar O K

** VX38505 Sexton A L VX22263 Shephard E J

** NX44384 Sheridan C S VX12576 Sherman A

VX32651 Shipston D S VX59103 Simpson J F

NX55180 Sinclair J C VX16906 Smead A E

WX11120 Smedley F G VX18827 Smith A F

VX20456 Stanborough R VX20571 Starke G W

** VX16152 Stillwell W B ** VX19543 Straughan S G

NX28631 Tamplin F J NX11103 Tamplin R L

VX22690 Tarrant F A QX16372 Taylor S K

WX10477 Thorpe J R NX54318 Tollett W S



NX37120 Tolra J J ** VX30754 Trudinger E H

NX28707 Turner F A VX22187 Wallace G

** VX30353 Ward J J VX20020 Warner H F

** VX39110 Washington W F VX56828 Watmuff F J

VX21232 Watson A G VX16884 Watson D E

VX24884 Watson V J ** VX35545 Watts G F

VX22795 West F H VX20266 Whittle L

NX24156 Whybrow D T VX26231 Wilson A J J

** VX15154 Wilson F M ** VX38519 Wilson P

NX29036 Wise L A VX55216 Wood K H

VX16522 Yule J A VX25879 Ziporkin M


On the 12th September 1944 the RYUKO MARU, a Japanese transport ship taking

prisoners to Japan, was torpedoed and sunk in the China Seas. From the 700

Australians on board only 92 survived. The following twenty members of 2/105

were among the prisoners:-

LOST AT SEA- J E Bower, N C Cooper, B F T Davies, J H Forbes, H A Forrest,

J G Forrest, G E Gordon, W A Jones, R M Leeson, G S Lewcock,

F C McAuley, W J McFarland, L G Moyle, W A Paterson,

W B Stillwell, S G Straughan.

RESCUED BY SUBMARINE- J J Flynn by USS BARB.

J M Ross by USS SEALION.

RESCUED BY JAPANESE- D G Mayers

G Macauley.

2/106 Australian General Transport

Company

ReturnTo Australia

The 2/106 departed from the Middle East on the 4th February 1942 headed to

Malaya to support the 8th Division. Some of the ships on which the unit sailed

were the tramp steamers Shillong and Salween.

On the fall of Singapore some ships in the convoy were halted at Cochin in

India & others at Colombo in Ceylon. After some time the ships moved towards

Java but when the naval battle of the Java Sea started the shipe were raced

back to Cochin and Colombo where they were anchored for another couple of

weeks.

The unit was then ordered back to Australia arriving on the 25th March at

Adelaide where it remained until the 13th April.

Troops sunbathing aboard the

SS Salween March 3rd 1942

SS Salween docking at Adelaide

24th March 1942

In Australia March – Nov. 1942

The unit left Adelaide on the 13th April

travelling by road to Melbourne where it

picked up troops for transport to Queensland

A Section was stationed at Esk until the 26th

of October when it moved to join the rest of

the unit at Goodna.

In mid November the unit embarked at

Brisbane for service in New Guinea.

New Guinea

November 1942 To May 1944

Port Moresby

Leaving Brisbane in November 1942 the

convoy was delayed for a week at

Townsville before continuing on to Port

Moresby. Here B & C Sections together with

Workshop support were offloaded where

they remained until May1944 servicing

troops there and in Wau. A Section with a

Workshop’s group continued to Milne Bay.

Mess parade aboard SS Jessie Applegate

HMAS Arunta escorting convoy – Taken from SS Jessie Applegate

Milne Bay 26 Nov1942 to

14 Jan1943

Ships in the convoy included the tramp

steamers Jessie Applegate and the Both.

Continuing on from Port Moresby A Section

were headed to Oro Bay but were diverted

to Milne Bay until a foothold was obtained at

Buna.

SS Both taken from SS Jessie Applegate

Sunken Dutch Ship Milne Bay

Earl Broome in Milne Bay

swamp testing his invention

to convert 303 rifles to

automatic. He was later

returned to Australia to

develop the idea but it was

never adopted.

Keith O’Reilly with working party Milne Bay

Oro Bay

15 January To 20 July 1943

Oro Bay New Guinea

Loading 2000 lb bombs Oro

Bay

Carting petrol Oro Bay –

Keith O’Reilly

Bluey Hill

Harry Rhodes

Oro Bay

Truck Maintenance Petrol Drums in sea.

Oro Bay To Dobadura Road

Embogi Crossing

16 to 24 February 1943

• Embogi Crossing was a branch of ANGAU

(Australian New Guinea Administration

Unit) to which a small group of A Section

were attached for the above period.

• During an air raid our houseboy, a happy

little Samoan boy about 11 years old, was

killed by a daisy cutter bomb blast.

Visit of Gary Cooper, Una Merkel & Phyllis Brookes to ANGAU base at

Embogi Crossing. Native dancers in background.

Our camp site at Embogi Crossing Corduroy roads through swamps.

Buna – Cape Enedere

21 July to 28 December 1943

Unloading LCM on Buna beach

LCT on Buna beach taken

from truck step.

Back In Australia

2/106 General Transport Company 6/12/1944

Morotai

19 April 4 June 1945

Waiting to load LCT on Morotai

Labuan – Borneo

10 June to 31 December 1945

Wrecked building Labuan after naval & air bombardment 10/6/1945

Wrecked building Labuan

Wrecked buildings Labuan

Alligators unloading from LST Labuan

Camp area at Labuan beach taken from town water tower.

Japanese raid on beach head 21/6/1945

Japanese raid on beach

head 21/6/1945

Long service men leaving unit to be

discharged

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