 After departing Fremantle , the convoy steamed towards Java and reached <unk> Bay early on 20 January . Proceeding on to the <unk> Strait , which was reached mid @-@ morning on 21 January and the men were then transferred to a number of smaller , faster Dutch ships to run the gauntlet of Japanese bombers that were attacking Allied shipping in the area . In concert with several Australian , British and Indian escorts and two Dutch <unk> flying boats , the convoy entered <unk> Harbour on 25 January 1942 . Upon arrival in Singapore , consisting of <unk> personnel of all ranks , the battalion was allocated to the task of preparing machine gun positions on Singapore ’ s north coast and around the naval base . They stepped into a <unk> , the Japanese were bombing the naval base — where the 2 / 4th were accommodated — every day and the fighting on the Malay Peninsula was all but over . Having been pushed back down the peninsula over the course of seven weeks , in the final week of January , the Allies withdrew from <unk> , on the mainland , to Singapore , where they would make a final stand . Covering the withdrawal , the 22nd Brigade was the last Australian unit to cross the 70 @-@ foot ( 21 m ) wide Causeway before it was blown up , early on the morning of 31 January , to prevent the Japanese from capturing it and to slow their advance . 
