 Following the capture of German possessions in the region , the AN & MEF provided occupation forces for the duration of the war . On 9 January 1915 , Holmes handed over command of the AN & MEF to Brigadier General Sir Samuel Pethebridge , the former Secretary of the Department of Defence . Holmes returned to Australia and re @-@ enlisted in the AIF , as did most of his men . They were replaced by the 3rd Battalion , known as the " Tropical Force " because it had been specially enlisted for service in the tropics . Pethebridge established the administrative structures that remained through the period of military occupation . Although required by international law to follow the German forms of government , the territory gradually acquired the appearance of a British colony . 
