Robertson Barracks is a major

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (CA), wh ...

base located in the

Northern Territory of Australia The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

within the suburb of Holtze in the Municipality of Litchfield about east of the

Darwin city centre Darwin City (referred to as ''Darwin city centre'' or ''The CBD'' (Central Business District) is a suburb in metropolitan Darwin which comprises the original settlement, the central business district, parkland and other built-up areas. It is t ...

. The barracks were built during the 1990s. The Barracks are home to the 1st Brigade and the 1st Aviation Regiment. Robertson Barracks has a helicopter airfield, similar to

Holsworthy Barracks Holsworthy Barracks is an Australian Army military barracks, located in the Heathcote National Park in Holsworthy approximately from the central business district, in south-western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The barracks is part of ...

. The barracks was named after Lieutenant General Sir

Horace Robertson Lieutenant General Sir Horace Clement Hugh Robertson, (29 October 1894 – 28 April 1960) was a senior officer in the Australian Army who served in the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. He was one of the first graduates ...

, commander of the 1st Armoured Division and 6th Division during the Second World War, and later Commander in Chief

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, ...

in Japan.

Units

The units currently located on Robertson Barracks are: 1 Brigade units * 1st Armoured Regiment * 1st Combat Service Support Battalion * 1st Combat Signals Regiment * 1st Combat Engineer Regiment * 5th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment * 8th/12th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery External units * 1st Aviation Regiment *B Coy, 1st Military Police Battalion *Joint Movements Control Office – Darwin *Joint Logistics Unit (North) * 1st Close Health Battalion (Headquarters) ** 8th Close Health Company The "Atomic Tank" was a Centurion which was placed 500m from ground zero of a 10Kt atomic bomb test at Woomera in 1953; it was damaged but still driveable, was repaired and served in Vietnam, before being used as a "gate guardian" at Robertson Barracks.

US Marines

In 2011 as part of the Obama administration's "pivot to Asia" it was announced that US Marines would be based in Darwin at the Robertson Barracks. In November 2011 it was announced that up to 2,500 US Marines would be based in Australia for training, starting from 200 to 250 in 2012, to 2500 over the following five years. The Marine groups were to stay for six months at a time. Robertson Barracks is reported to be a future site of a

United States Pacific Command United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region. Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, ...

, Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D), and its current capacity of 4,500 troops will be upgraded in the near future. Currently, the size and the accessibility of key facilities in Darwin follows closely with other US deployment sites around the globe. In 2016, 1,250 US Marines deployed to Robertson Barracks, along with four

UH-1Y Venom The Bell UH-1Y VenomDoD 4120-15L, ''Model Desi ...

helicopters. Drawn out negotiations over cost-sharing and other issues mean that the original number of 2,500 Marines per deployment will not be reached until at least 2020.U.S., Australia delay plans to send more Marines Down Under 10 June 2016
''

Marine Corps Times ''Marine Corps Times'' (ISSN 1522-0869) is a newspaper serving active, reserve and retired United States Marine Corps personnel and their families, providing news, information and analysis as well as community and lifestyle features, educational su ...

'' Retrieved 15 November 2016

Notes

References

External links

ADF official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson Barracks Buildings and structures in Darwin, Northern Territory Barracks in Australia Military installations in the Northern Territory Australian Army aviation Military installations of the United States in Australia