About This Unit
The South Australian 4th Garrison Brigade was the headquarters for the 4th and the 18th Garrison Battalions within the 4th Military District (SA) and was responsible for all administrative work of the Garrison Battalions. It was raised in 1941 and disbanded in 1942.
The Brigade over saw the command of the following Garrison Battalions:
The 4th Garrison Brigade was the first Garrison Brigade to be established in Australia. It was numerically named after the military district that it fell under; that being South Australia which was classed as the 4th Military District. Its first and only commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel John Morphett Irwin (/explore/people/61549) who had previously commanded the 4th Garrison Battalion. The 4th Garrison Brigade was established to overlook both the 4th and 18th Garrison Battalions in South Australia and their operations. In 1942, however, when the 18th Garrison Battalion was disbanded due to lack of personal the 4th Garrison Brigade was no longer required and as such it was also disbanded.
Although the 25th Garrison Battalion and the 33rd Garrison Battalion (later the 25/33rd Garrison Battalion after their amalgamation together) were also based in South Australia these Garrison Battalions were never directly under the command of the 4th Garrison Brigade.
Garrison Battalions were part of the Australian 'Army Reserve' within the CMF Militia structure for Homeland Defence with the role of manning fixed defences and vulnerable points. The personnel were Class B men, those between 48 and 55 who had seen war service before September 1939, therefore mostly WW1 veterans.
The first seven Garrison battalions were raised in October 1939. A total of 33 were raised across the States numbered 1-33 and where more than three battalions were raised, they were grouped in State-based Brigades, numbered in accordance with the relevant Military District Headquarters in which they were embedded; 1 Garrison Brigade in Queensland, 2 in New South Wales, 3 in Victoria, 4 in South Australia and 5 in Western Australia. A number of Battalions were merged and others reduced to a single company; in each case they retained the original Battalion number.
Prisoner-of-War and Internment Camp units were part of the Garrison Battalion organisation but were on a special establishment where the need for prior war service was waived. AWAS (female) personnel were subsequently often posted in for clerical and administrative roles.
From early on some battalions had adopted a secondary title indicating their specific role, such as (Internal Security). In 1942 this was formalised and most battalions were given an appropriate secondary title.
Initially, all Garrison Battalions wore the same shoulder patch, a black square on a green square. Numerous requests were made by battalions to individualise their patches and in late 1942 the system was adopted of geometric shapes, green on black in a reversal of the original design, approval for which was dated 11 December 1942.
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