3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment is a mechanised infantry battalion of the Australian Army, based in Kapyong Lines, Townsville as part of the 3rd Brigade. 3 RAR traces its lineage to 1945 and has seen operational service in Japan, Korea, Malaya, Borneo, South Vietnam, Rifle Company Butterworth, East Timor, the Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Members of 3 RAR move forward during the Korean War in 1951
U.S. General James Van Fleet inspects members of 3 RAR after awarding a Presidential Unit Citation to the Battalion in December 1952
Hill 614, Korea, 1951-03-01. Led by Corporal (Cpl) Len Wright (left), members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), move forward from Hill 614 to attack Hill 587. Cpl Wright is carrying an Owen submachine gun and has a smoke grenade and a hand grenade attached to his belt. The soldier following him, who is smoking a cigarette, is carrying a Bren gun over his shoulder. Behind him, another soldier is lighting a cigarette. Cpl Wright was a cinema projectionist in civilian life. .
3 RAR soldiers during a January 1968 operation in South Vietnam
The 3rd Brigade is a combined arms brigade of the Australian Army, principally made up of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Royal Australian Regiment. Initially raised in 1903 as part of the post-Federation Australian Army, it was removed from the order of battle in 1906 following the restructure of the field force. It was re-formed in 1914 for service during World War I, taking part in the fighting at Gallipoli and on the Western Front in Europe. During World War II the brigade was used in a defensive role before it was disbanded in 1944. It was re-raised in 1967 for service during the Vietnam War and later went on to provide the nucleus of the deployment to East Timor during the Australian-led intervention in 1999. The brigade is currently based at Lavarack Barracks in Townsville, Queensland.
Personnel from SECDET X, which included members of 3rd Brigade, in Baghdad, March 2007
3rd Brigade soldiers at Gallipoli in August 1915
1RAR soldiers prepare to board a United States Marine Corps helicopter in Somalia