Victoria Barracks, Melbourne HQ for the US and Australian armed forces Curtinmacarthur

Naval Base Melbourne was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

base at

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Naval Base Melbourne became the South West Pacific Area Command Headquarters after the 1941 invasion of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

General Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army. He served with distinction in World War I; as chief of ...

, after escaping the Philippines, set up his Headquarters after his arrival on 21 March 1942. MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area. The US Navy also set up a Headquarters a Melbourne, Allied Naval Forces Southwest Pacific Area under Commander Vice Admiral

Herbert F. Leary Herbert Fairfax Leary (May 31, 1885 – December 3, 1957) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral. A son of Rear Admiral Richard P. Leary, he distinguished himself durin ...

. MacArthur and Leary used the empty Trustees Executive building at 401 Collins Street, Melbourne for headquarters. The

Port of Melbourne The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia. It is located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, and covers an area at the mouth of the Yarra River, downstream of Bolte Bridge, which is at th ...

had good fleet anchorage and docks. A new naval base was built at

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia, Naval Base Brisbane, and the Headquarters was moved to Brisbane in July 1942.

History

With the loss of Naval Base Manila in 1941, the US Navy and

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

need a safe

South West Pacific Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

port to stage a reply to

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

advances. Northern Australia ports were within reach of Japan long-range

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

Bombing of Darwin The Bombing of Darwin, also known as the Battle of Darwin, on 19 February 1942 was the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. On that day, 242 Empire of Japan, Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the ...

on 19 February 1942, demonstrated a more southern port was needed. Melbourne, in southern Australia, was far away from any current or future attacks. The existing port facilities at Melbourne were large enough to support the staging of future action. Local civilians were hired to help in the unloading and loading of US Navy and US Army ships. The SS President Coolidge and arrived at Melbourne on 1 February 1942 with supplies and munitions for the base and Australia. The ship also had troops and crafted

P-40 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entr ...

. The crew's leaders were sometimes called the "Remember Pearl Harbor" (RPH) Group or ''RPH staff''. Other ships that were heading to now captured or in danger Pacific ports arrived at Melbourne. Melbourne became a staging place for 1942 convoys. On 16 July 1942 the SS Matsonia arrived at Melbourne with troops, most camped at Camp Murphy. The

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

was used to house the staging of American and Australian troops, called Camp Murphy. The

USS West Point (AP-23) SS ''America'' was an ocean liner and cruise ship American Built Passenger Liners, built in the United States in 1940 for the United States Lines and designed by the noted American naval architect William Francis Gibbs. It carried many names in ...

arrived 4 September 1942 with more troops for Camp Murphy. US Army set up a camp at

Victoria Barracks, Melbourne Victoria Barracks Melbourne is an Australian Government building located on St Kilda Road in Melbourne, Australia. It was constructed in the mid-to-late 19th century as barracks for Colonial forces of Australia, British colonial forces in Austra ...

. MacArthur set up his HQ at first in the

Hotel Australia The Hotel Australia was a former hotel in Melbourne, Australia. The hotel was built in 1939 on the site of the former Cafe Australia (which had opened in 1916), and was demolished in 1989. Designed by Leslie M. Perrott, the Hotel Australia was ...

. After the Battle of the Coral Sea, in May 1942, and the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...

in June 1942, the US Navy and Army later moved its Headquarters to Naval Base Brisbane in July 1942. Melbourne also became a rest and recuperation spot for US troops after

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

battles. The

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine (military), Marine Division (military), division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine E ...

, 865 Officers and 17,335 men, rested at Melbourne after the

Battle of Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by the United States, was an Allied offensive against forces of the Empire of Japan in the Solomon Islands during the Pacific Theater of W ...

arriving on 12 January 1943 on the

, protected by the

USS Bagley (DD-386) USS ''Bagley'' (DD-386), a , was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Ensign Worth Bagley, officer during the Spanish–American War, distinguished as the only U.S. naval officer killed in action during that war. ''Bagley ...

. Rest camps were Camp Robinson, Camp Murphy, Convalescent Camp Pell, Camp Balcombe, Mount Martha, and at

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

. Naval Base Melbourne was closed after the war.

Geelong depot

Near Melbourne at

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, the US built a new

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

depot. The Geelong depot was later named Kane Ammunition Depot, after a US Army 453d Ordnance Company crew member, who died in a convoy that departed Melbourne on 27 January 1942. His ship, ''Don Isidro'' was going to

Corregidor Corregidor (, , ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of Cavite City and thus the province of Cavite. It is located west of Manila, the nation's capi ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

to help the troops there. But in north Australia, his ship was attacked and ground on Bathurst Island, north of Darwin. Kane died in an Australian hospital at Darwin. Kane Ammunition Depot was run by the 25th Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company. The depot worked with the Townsville Naval Section Base, which had an

Anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

Ordnance Training Center. The depot was closed after the war and is still abandoned today. *Small depots were built at Melbourne suburbs:

Seymour Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township ** Seymour railway station * Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria * Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria * Se ...

, Laverton and

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

Rowville Training Camp

Rowville Rowville is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 27 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Rowville recorded a population of 33,571 at the 2021 census. Rowv ...

a US Marine training camp was built in May 1943, with support from the US Navy. The

1st Marines The 1st Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. The regiment is under the command of the 1st Marine Division and the I Marine Expeditionary Force. The ...

trained at the camp. Marines trained on field exercises live overhead firing, machine gun use, and

mortar Mortar may refer to: * Mortar (weapon), an indirect-fire infantry weapon * Mortar (masonry), a material used to fill the gaps between blocks and bind them together * Mortar and pestle, a tool pair used to crush or grind * Mortar, Bihar, a village i ...

use. The camp was built by the

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

19th Battalion. The 19th Battalion also were the teachers of the use of some of the heavy equipment for the 17th Marine Engineering Regiment. In July 1943 the 3rd Battalion of the 17th Marines moved to Naval Base Cairns. The camp closed 30 September 1943 after the departure of the 7th Marines, 1st Battalion and 4th Battalion of the

11th Marines The 11th Marine Regiment is an artillery regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. Known as the "Cannon Cockers", the regiment falls under the command of the 1st Marine Division and the I M ...

. Most of the camp is now a major electrical terminal station and Stud Park. The camp was at .

Melbourne Convoys

*Convoy MS-5 departed Melbourne on 22 February 1942. The convoy's goal was to reinforce the

Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. The Convoy included: MS Sea Witch with crafted

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter-bomber that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry ...

aircraft,

HMAS Katoomba HMAS ''Katoomba'' (J204/M204), named after the tourist resort of Katoomba, New South Wales, was one of 60 ''Bathurst''-class corvettes constructed during World War II, and one of 36 initially crewed and commissioned solely by the Royal Australia ...

MV Duntroon MV ''Duntroon'' was a passenger motor ship built for the Melbourne Steamship Company, that saw military service as a troopship between 1942 and 1949. She was built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Walker, Newcastle upon Tyne, and entered ...

USAT Willard A. Holbrook SS ''President Taft'' was launched as one of the "state" ships, ''Buckeye State'', completed by the United States Shipping Board as cargo passenger ships after originally being laid down as troop transports. ''Buckeye State'' had been laid down a ...

and

USS Langley (CV-1) USS ''Langley'' (CV-1/AV-3) was the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier, converted in 1920 from the Collier (ship), collier USS ''Jupiter'' (Navy Fleet Collier No. 3), and also the US Navy's first turbo-electric transmission, turbo-ele ...

that was sunk on the trip. The

USS Whipple (DD-217) USS ''Whipple'' (DD- 217/AG-117), a was the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of Commodore (United States), Commodore Abraham Whipple (1733–1819), who served in the Continental Navy. Construction and commissioning ''Whip ...

and

USS Edsall (DD-219) USS ''Edsall'' (DD-219), was a , the first of two United States Navy ships named after Seaman Norman Eckley Edsall (1873–1899). She was sunk by a combined Japanese air and sea attack, approximately east of Christmas Island on 1 March 1 ...

joined the Convoy for added protection. The Troop ship Willard A. Holbrook had the US Army's 35th and 51st Pursuit Groups onboard. Empire of Japan two-engine naval land attack planes and six fighters attacked the convoy 74 miles from Tjilatjap on 27 February. Sixteen men from Langley died. The USS Pecos (AO-6) took on some of the survivors of the Langley. *The convoy of ships with Troops and

reached Melbourne on 1 February 1942 and departed for Perth on 2 February. The convoy was to go to India, but due to the invasion Philippines, the convoy returned to San Francisco. *On 26 February 1942, the ships of Task Force 6814, with seven transport ships arrived at Melbourne harbor. Stayed in camps in and outside of city:

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

, Darley, Royal Park and Melbourne. Many Australians opened their home and the Troops had home-cooked meals. The Task Force reloaded and departed for

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

on 6 March. *Regular Convoys were started each with a code CO was for

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

to Melbourne and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

ran from June 1942 to Dec. 1943 with 150 convoys, reverse trip called, OC. Convoy MS was from Melbourne to Singapore ran Jan. 1942 to March 1942 to support the British-led forces facing the Japanese invasion; 4 convoys. Convoy PV was from Melbourne to

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

ran Sept. 1943 to Oct. 1943. *Some ships that ports in Melbourne :

USS General H. W. Butner (AP-113) USS ''General H. W. Butner'' (AP-113), named for Henry W. Butner, was a troopship that served with the United States Navy in World War II and the Korean War. She was redesignated T-AP-113 in October 1949. ''General H. W. Butner'' was launched by ...

USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) USS ''Mount Vernon'' (AP-22) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy during World War II. Prior to her military service, she was a luxury ocean liner named SS ''Washington''. ''Washington'' was launched in May 1933 by th ...

USS Victoria (AO-46) USS ''Victoria'' (AO-46) was an oiler for the United States Navy in World War II, and the second ship to bear the name. She was built in 1917 as SS ''George G. Henry'' in San Francisco for the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company. Duri ...

USS General George M. Randall (AP-115) USS ''General George M. Randall'' (AP-115) was a General John Pope class transport, ''General John Pope'' class Troopship, troop transport which served with the United States Navy in World War II and the postwar era. She was named after Major Gen ...

SS America (1939) SS ''America'' was an ocean liner and cruise ship built in the United States in 1940 for the United States Lines and designed by the noted American naval architect William Francis Gibbs. It carried many names in the 54 years between its const ...

USS General W. A. Mann (AP-112) USS ''General W. A. Mann'' (AP-112) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. ''General W. A. Mann'', a P2-type troopship, was built by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock ...

, USS Altamaha (CVE-18),

USS General John Pope (AP-110) USS ''General John Pope'' (AP-110) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II. After the war she was transferred to the Army and redesignated USAT ''General John Pope''. She later served in the Korean and Vietnam ...

, USS Susan B. Anthony (AP-72), USS Yuma (AT-94),

USS Phoenix (CL-46) USS ''Phoenix'' (CL-46), was a light cruiser of the family. She was the third ''Phoenix'' of the United States Navy. After World War II the ship was transferred to Argentina in 1951 and was named in 1956. ''General Belgrano'' was sunk during ...

USS General W. F. Hase (AP-146) USS ''General W. F. Hase'' (AP-146) was a for the US Navy in World War II. She was named in honor of US Army Major General (United States), Major General William Frederick Hase. She was transferred to the US Army as USAT ''General W. F. Hase'' ...

, SS President Cleveland (1920),

USS General A. W. Greely (AP-141) USS ''General A. W. Greely'' (AP-141) was a named for U.S. Army general Adolphus Greely. She was transferred to the U.S. Army as USAT ''General A. W. Greeley'' in 1946. On 1 March 1950 she was transferred to the Military Sea Transportation Servi ...

USS Admiral W. S. Benson USS ''Admiral W. S. Benson'' (AP-120) began as an unnamed transport, AP-120, that was laid down on 10 December 1942 at Alameda, California by the Bethlehem-Alameda Shipbuilding Corp., under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 678). She was na ...

, USS Altamaha (CVE-18), USS ARD-10 to repair ships and others.

Naval Intelligence Center

Station CAST Station CAST was the United States Navy signals monitoring and cryptographic intelligence fleet radio unit at Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines, until Cavite was captured by the Japanese forces in 1942, during World War II. It was an important ...

was

Naval intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

center at

Naval Base Cavite Naval Station Pascual Ledesma, also known as Cavite Naval Base or Cavite Navy Yard, is a military installation of the Philippine Navy in Cavite City. In the 1940s and '50s, it was called Philippine Navy Operating Base. The naval base is located ...

. With the fall of the

the center was moved to Naval Base Manila's

Island. US Navy

Cryptologist This is a list of cryptographers. Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries. Pre twentieth century * Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi: wrote a (now lost) book ...

s and other Naval intelligence personnel were taken off Corregidor Island by submarines on 8 April 1942 after the fall of

. Not all troops on Corregidor were evacuated, many became

Prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and part of the

Bataan Death March The Bataan Death March was the Death march, forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of around 72,000 to 78,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war (POWs) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp ...

. The team set up a Naval Intelligence Center at Melbourne. The CAST team joined the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

codebreakers at Melbourne. The two units became

Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne (FRUMEL) was a United States–Australian–British signals intelligence unit, founded in Melbourne, Australia, during World War II. It was one of two major Allied signals intelligence units called Fleet Radio Units in ...

. To be low key the unit was based in the Monterey Apts on Arthur Street and the

Moorabbin Moorabbin is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 15 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Moorabbin recorded a population of 6,287 at the . Most of the e ...

Town Hall. US Navy Communication Security Section of the Office of Naval Communications, since 1940 was able to

decode Decoding or decode may refer to: is the process of converting code into plain text or any format that is useful for subsequent processes. Science and technology * Decoding, the reverse of encoding * Parsing, in computer science * Digital-to-analog ...

some Japanese communication ciphers and codes. By March 1942 the center was able to decipher up to 15% of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

's ''Naval Codebook D'', (US Navy label "JN-25B"). By May 1942 the US Navy was decoding up to 85% of the ''Ro'' code sent by Japan's Navy.

Fleet Radio Unit Radio Station

Naval Base Melbourne supported a remote post, Fleet Radio Unit Radio Station, at

Adelaide River The Adelaide River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. Course and features The river rises in the Litchfield National Park and flows generally northwards to Clarence Strait, joined by eight tributaries including the west branc ...

. The post was called USN Supplementary Radio Station Adelaide River and U.S. Naval Attachment, Fleet Radio Unit, Navy 136. It was run under the United States Seventh Fleet for the Naval Intelligence Center and opened in March 1943. A

teleprinter A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is an electromechanical device that can be used to send and receive typed messages through various communications channels, in both point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point and point- ...

line was run to Naval Intelligence Center so the info picked up could get to Naval Intelligence Center quickly. A DAB-3 HFDF was installed, a radio Direction Finding System, or Radio Direction Finder (RDF). The site was abandoned after the war. The Fleet Post Office FPO was 179 SF Adelaide River, Australia. Fleet Radio Unit Radio Station was supported by Naval Base Darwin.

Airfields

The US Navy and other branches made some use of existing Airfields in Melbourne: *Tullamarine Airfield now

Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is an international airport serving Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operating 24/7 service, 24 hours a day with on-site parking, shopping and dining, Melbourne Airport is the List of th ...

*Essendon Airfield now

Melbourne Essendon Airport Essendon Fields Airport , formerly Essendon Airport, is a public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights. Located in the north western suburb of Essendon Fields, it is Melbourne's second larg ...

Avalon Airport Avalon Airport is a domestic airport, located in Avalon in the City of Greater Geelong in Victoria, Australia. While located outside the Melbourne metropolitan area, it is the second busiest of the four airports serving the state capital i ...

at Geelong depot * Ballarat airfield now Ballarat Airport *

RAAF Base Point Cook Point Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Point Cook recorded a population of 66,781 at the 2021 census, making it t ...

Airfield 20 km (12 miles from Melbourne), also home to RAAF Museum at Point Cook. *The

Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) was an Australian aircraft manufacturer. The CAC was established in 1936, to provide Australia with the capability to produce military aircraft and engines. History In 1935 the Chief General Manage ...

built aircraft and was used to reassemble crated aircraft arriving from the United States on US Navy ships. *

Department of Aircraft Production Government Aircraft Factories (GAF) was the name of an aircraft manufacturer owned by the Government of Australia. The primary factory was located at Fishermans Bend, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, Victoria. It had its origins i ...

built aircraft Melbourne. **Outlining Airfields: **

Lake Boga, Victoria Lake Boga () is a town in Victoria, Australia, located next to the lake of the same name. It is situated within the Rural City of Swan Hill within the Mallee region of north-west Victoria. At the 2016 census, Lake Boga had a population of 985. ...

Seaplane base ** Wangaratta Airport **

Werribee Airfield RAAF Williams is a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) military air base set across two locations, at Point Cook and Laverton, located approximately south-west of the Melbourne central business district in Victoria, Australia. Both establishm ...

Battle of Melbourne

While most people in Melbourne welcomed the US arrival at Melbourne, problems between Australian Troop and US Troop peaked in 1942 and caused what is called the ''Battle of Melbourne'' on 1 December 1942. The Battle of Melbourne was a smaller riot between Australian Troops and US Troops. There were riots in

, Bondi on 6 February 1943,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in January 1944 and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

in April 1944. During the war there was a news blackout of the event, due to the need to keep morale up.Peter Dunn, 2005, "The Battle Of Brisbane – 26 & 27 November 1942"
(''Australia @ War'') Accessed 15 December 2006

Post war

*After

Victory over Japan Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Surrender of Japan, Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war End of World War II in Asia, to an end. The ...

the base closed and the US Navy started taking Troops home in

Operation Magic Carpet Operation Magic Carpet was the post–World War II operation by the U.S. War Shipping Administration (WSA) to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European (ETO), Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Libert ...

. * At Ballarat Gardens near

Lake Wendouree Lake Wendouree () is an artificial lake, artificially created and maintained shallow urban lake located adjacent to the Lake Wendouree, Victoria, suburb of the same name in the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The name Wendouree comes fro ...

is a marker plaque that reads: ::''"A tree that looks at god all day And lifts her leafy arms to pray. United States Marine Corps 1st Marine Division. This tree is to commemorate the Friendship established between The United States Marine and The citizens of Ballaarat during Their sojourn in early 1943"'' *At

's Stud Park is a marker noting the spot of the Rowville camp and the 1944 Italian Prisoner of war Camp.Marker of the Rowville POW camp
'ozatwar.com''

References

External links

youtube When World War 2 Came to Melbourne on 26 February, 1942youtube MaCarthur In Australia (1942)youtube Visions Episode 71: US Marines in Wartime Melbourne

Sources

* * * * * {{USWWII Military installations established in 1942 Closed installations of the United States Navy 1942 in Australia

Naval Base Melbourne Victoria Barracks, Melbourne HQ for the US and Australian armed forces Naval Base Melbourne was a United States Navy base at Melbourne during World War II. Naval Base Melbourne became the South West Pacific Area Command Headquarters after ...