After a brief stay in Sydney where the battalion ’ s equipment deficiencies were made good and some reinforcements were received from local recruit training depots , they embarked again on 10 January in company with HMAS Canberra , and proceeded through the Bass Strait . As they were under way , the troops were kept occupied with training on the Bren light machine gun and the Thompson sub @-@ machine gun , quantities of which were hastily added to the battalion ’ s equipment scale . They reached Fremantle , Western Australia , on 15 January and overnight , a large number of 2 / 4th men defied orders to stay aboard ship and went ashore to spend time with their families ; when the Aquitania sailed the next day , 94 men were left behind . The situation in Malaya was grave as the Japanese were steadily pushing the British and Commonwealth defenders south down the peninsula and as the gravity of the situation dawned upon the Australian government , a knee @-@ jerk reaction saw the dispatch of 150 partially trained reinforcements from Northam . They arrived just as the Aquitania departed , being ferried out to Rottnest Island where they joined the ship ’ s company late in the afternoon of 16 January . Although the reinforcements made good the men that had been left behind , they were only partially trained and ill @-@ prepared for the fighting that would follow .