Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

02/04/1943

Date of Discharge

03/01/1946

Place of Enlistment

Flaggy Creek, Queensland

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

11/10/1920

Place of Birth

Queanbeyan NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Bulga Creek ACT

School(s) Attended

St. Christopher's School (Manuka), Telopea Park School

Occupation

Public Servant

Next of Kin

Archibald Brown (father), Bulga Creek ACT

Service Number

NX163058

Final Rank

Warrant Officer Class 2

Final Unit

1st Papuan Infantry Battalion

Brown came from a pioneering farming family in the Bulga Creek district, but he worked for the Department of the Interior before the war in a section responsible for passports, immigration and naturalisation. He joined the Citizens Militia Force in December 1938 and attended several camps with 3 Battalion up until October 1941 when he was mobilised. The 3rd Battalion arrived in Port Moresby in May 1942 and in September 1942 Brown joined his unit on the Kokoda Track as part of Maroubra Force. He fought and patrolled along the Track for the next month at Ioribaiwa, Imita Ridge and towards Templetons Crossing before being admitted to the Field Ambulance at Myola, in the Owen Stanley Ranges, with back pain. After suffering a bout of malaria he returned to Australia in January 1943 but had another malaria attack in April 1943 while training on the Atherton Tableland in Queensland. He joined the 2/3 Battalion of the AIF in July 1943 but was transferred to the Papuan Infantry Battalion in October 1943 and sent to Port Moresby. In July 1945 he was posted to Torokina on Bougainville Island. He was recalled from Bougainville in December 1945 to work in the newly created Department of Immigration. Brown's service in Immigration included postings to Greece (where he was Consul-General 1959-1960) and Rome (1960-1961). He retired in 1973 and died in Canberra Hospital on 15 January 2003.

Description - height 6 feet 1 inch, weight 165 pounds, chest 34-38 inches, grey eyes, fair complexion, fair hair.

WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
ACT Electoral Rolls 1916 to 1967 http://canberraheritageportal.org/default.php
The Canberra Times - 11 January 1943, 15 March 1988, 18 January 2003
'The Southwell Family in Australia', 2008 (pp. xxiv,xxv)
Colin Kennedy, 'Port Moresby to Gona Beach. 3rd Australian Infantry Battalion 1942', 1992
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883 (Second Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1939-1947)
Information and images provided by Nicholas Brown