On 21 November, the battalion entrained for Fremantle, boarding troopships headed for Melbourne; it was there that the four battalions combined to form the 4th Brigade under the command of Colonel John Monash. After completing their basic training in Victoria, the brigade left Port Melbourne aboard Troopship A40, Ceramic on 26 December. After a brief stop at Albany, Western Australia, they arrived in Egypt in early February 1915. The brigade marched from Alexandria to Heliopolis as part of the New Zealand and Australian Division of Major General Alexander Godley.
