15th Brigade had marched over more of New Guinea than any other Allied formation. The corvette HMAS Katoomba departed Madang on 26 July 1944, carrying the 57th/60th back to Townsville, where landfall was made on 30 July 1944. Bougainville Island The battalion was called together again to the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland. After a foreshortened training period, the 57th/60th received orders to rejoin the 3rd Division which was at the time on Bougainville as part of the Australian II Corps, Australian forces having taken over responsibility for the island from the Americans in November 1944. The battalion embarked from Townsville on 1 January 1945 aboard the Fairisle, disembarking at Torokina, Bougainville, on 5 January. Following fighting around Slater's Knoll the 15th Brigade moved forward and relieved the 7th Brigade in the southern sector of the island and shortly afterwards resumed the advance along the axis of the Buin Road, crossing the Hongorai River, and then the Hari and Mobiai Rivers before being relieved on 1 July by the 29th Brigade. During this time the 57th/60th took part in the Battle of the Hongorai River, as well as the advance to the Mivo River, undertaking a diversionary drive along the Commando Road on the left flank of the brigade's main effort. The Commando Road battle honour is unique to the 57th/60th Battalion. War's end and disbandment The 15th Battalion relieved the 57th/60th on 2 July 1945. The 57th/60th did not see combat again before the war came to an end, with the news coming the following month that the Japanese had surrendered as a result of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the conclusion of hostilities, the 57th/60th Battalion carried out various garrison duties such as guarding some of the estimated 21,000 Japanese prisoners of war on Bougainville, and maintaining internal security and infrastructure while the demobilisation process took place. Personnel were gradually repatriated back to Australia or transferred to other units for further service. The battalion's numbers slowly decreased until in December 1945 the main body of the battalion returned to Australia aboard the passenger ship SS Ormiston (which had been torpedoed and repaired in 1943), departing Torokina on 29 November 1945 and arriving in Brisbane on 7 December. The battalion moved to Chermside, Queensland where demobilisation hastened. On 30 March 1946, the battalion was officially disbanded. Those who remained in the army, on Bougainville Island, Fauro Island