Framed Certificate: 16 Australian Infantry Brigade Swimming Carnival

Paper certificate with a red wooden frame. The corners of the frame have inlaid pieces in a lighter colour and the top left hand piece is missing. The certificate has the green colour patch of 16 Infantry Brigade Head quarters at the top with the patches of the 2/1, 2/2 and 2/3 Battalions underneath. From the top of the certificate the words read: '16 Australian Infantry Brigade SWIMMING CARNIVAL Championship Certificate/ Event 200 metres Freestyle Relay/Won by 2/3 Aust Inf Bn/Time 2 min 2 sec' It is then signed in faded ink and continues 'Brig, Comd 16 Aust Inf Bde.' with the date 'November '44'.

Certificate from a team event held at the 16 Infantry Brigade Swimming Carnival in 1944. Won by members of 2/3 Battalion. The 2/3 Battalion was raised at Victoria Barracks, Sydney on 24 October 1939 as part of the 16th Brigade of the 6th Australian Division. On 10 January 1940, it sailed from Sydney and disembarked in Egypt on 14 February. After further training in Palestine and Egypt, the 2/3rd took part in its first campaign, the advance against the Italians in eastern Libya in January 1941. It was involved in the successful attacks at Bardia and Tobruk , and remained as part of the Tobruk garrison when the advance continued. One company of the 2/3rd was also employed to garrison Derna after its capture by the 19th Brigade on 30 January. The 2/3rd left Tobruk on 7 March, bound for Greece. Arriving in Greece on 19 March, the 2/3rd was soon deployed north to resist the anticipated German invasion. The battalion's activities in Greece ended with evacuation by sea from Kalamata on 27 April. In June and July 1941, the 2/3rd took part in the campaign in Syria and Lebanon. The battalion left the Middle East, heading for the war against Japan, on 10 March 1942. The 2/3rd finally disembarked in Australia, at Melbourne, on 8 August 1942. The 2/3rd’s first campaign against the Japanese was the advance along the Kokoda Trail to the Japanese beachheads between September and December 1942. 1943 and 1944 were spent training in northern Queensland, probably where the swim carnival was held. The battalion's last campaign of the war was the operation to clear the Japanese from the Aitape–Wewak region of New Guinea between December 1944 and August 1945. The 2/3rd Battalion disbanded on 8 February 1946.