 In 1884 , Germany had colonised the north eastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups . By the outbreak of the war , the Germans had been using the colony as a wireless radio base , and supporting the German East Asia Squadron which threatened merchant shipping in the region . As a consequence , Britain required the wireless installations to be destroyed . Shortly after the outbreak of war — following a request by the British government on 6 August 1914 — the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force ( AN & MEF ) began forming . The objectives of the force were the German stations at Yap in the Caroline Islands , Nauru and at Rabaul , New Britain . The AN & MEF comprised one battalion of infantry ( 1 @,@ 023 men ) enlisted in Sydney , 500 naval reservists and ex @-@ sailors organised into six companies who would serve as infantry and a further 500 men from the Kennedy Regiment , a Queensland militia battalion that had volunteered for overseas service and had been sent to garrison Thursday Island . Together , these forces were placed under the command of Colonel William Holmes , an officer in the militia who was at the time commander of the 6th Brigade and secretary of the Sydney Water and Sewerage Board . 
