Invasion barges at launching bay, Boggy Creek, Brisbane

The development of these all-welded steel landing barges was the work of the Ford Motor Company in Brisbane in conjunction with naval and military engineers. The first barge to be built measured only 32' in length. When two of these were tied together in order to transport a bull-dozer across Moreton Bay, army engineers saw the possibility of uniting this type of craft for larger and heavier loading and promoted the idea of welding four 32' barges together to make a craft 64' long by 19' 6" wide. Many hundreds of these were built in Brisbane and traveled north under their own power, later to go into action in New Britain, New Guinea and Bougainville.