This is a website that is dedicated to the memory of the 2/15th Battalion
Second AIF.

The 2/15th Battalion moved from Cairns to Milne Bay on 1 August 1943, and then on to the landings on the Huon Peninsular in New Guinea.

Their transport to Milne Bay was provided by the MV Van Heutsz.  This was a 4588 ton Dutch vessel that was built in 1926 and converted to troop transport.  The ship was used extensively in the South West Pacific during 1943, including being "damaged on 9 January in Oro Bay air raids".

This ship had previously transported Australian reinforcements to Milne Bay ahead of the Japanese landings there (August 1942).

"The arrival of the first of many ships which defied the Coralsea and the uncharted, unbeaconed China Strait, can considered to be the turning point in the history of Milne Bay and the first victory over the Japanese. Never will I forget the Heemskerk, Maetsuycker, Van Heutsz, Tasman and all the other brave ships".

Van Heustz