POINT WALTER RESERVE ARMY CAMP
FREMANTLE, WA
DURING WWII

The 109th Anti Tank Regiment mobilized at Point Walter Reserve in December 1941. Prior to that the area had been used by other military units as a training area. When Lt. Gen. Gordon Bennett (HQ 3 Aust Corps) took command of the Defence of Western Australia, he ordered that field units should not occupy fixed camps and Point Walter Camp became a transit camp for Battalions or Regiments that came down from Perth and Geraldton.

The 2/28th Infantry Battalion was based at Point Walter Camp when they returned from the Middle East in early 1943 whilst their men took a well earned period of leave.

Headquarters 3 Australia Corps established a Combined Operations Training Centre at Point Walter in early 1943. Infantry, artillery and armoured units were rotated through a three week course at the Combined Operations Training Centre. Naval Auxiliary Patrol vessels from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club taught them boat handling skills. A mock-up of a ship's side was used to practice boarding using a cargo net. They also practiced cliff climbing at Blackwall Reach further downstream. The course finished with an "Opposed landing" complete with "Battle noise simulation" and various explosions on the beach.

By the middle of 1944, most Army field units had left Western Australia, and the 109th Convalescent Depot moved from Northam to Point Walter Camp in January 1945. They established a 250 bed capacity and looked after soldiers who were on discharge from 110 Military Hospital in Perth before returning to their original units.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Graham McKenzie-Smith for his assistance with this web page.

REFERENCES

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 6 August 2015

This page last updated 24 January 2020