 In mid @-@ 1940 , amid the tide of German successes in Europe , there was an influx of volunteers for the 2nd AIF . As a result , the Australian government decided to raise a third volunteer division for overseas service , named the 8th Division . Established around three infantry brigades — the 22nd , 23rd and 27th — the division was supported by corps troops including engineers , cavalry , artillery , pioneers and a machine gun battalion for direct fire support . Within this formation , the 2 / 4th Machine Gun Battalion came into being on 25 November 1940 , when Lieutenant Colonel Michael Anketell , a First World War veteran who had commanded a Militia infantry battalion before the war , established his headquarters at Northam Camp , near Perth , Western Australia . While the rest of the 8th Division had drawn its personnel mainly from the more populous eastern states of New South Wales and Victoria , the decision was made to select personnel for the 2 / 4th only from those who were already enlisted and conducting training in the west . While potentially parochial , it was a primarily a <unk> decision to reduce the time it would take to concentrate the unit and complete its training . 
