Early history While 25/49 RQR was officially formed in 1997, it can trace its history back as far as 1875. On 20 January 1875 the 8th Company,
Queensland Volunteer Rifle Brigade was formed in
Toowoomba, Queensland, in order to meet the defence needs of the newly independent state of Queensland. This unit would later become part of the 4th Queensland (Darling Downs) Regiment, although when the colonial defence forces were amalgamated with the Commonwealth Military Forces following
federation, the unit was disbanded in 1902. As a result, it was decided that the previously existing units of the Australian Military Forces, also known as the Militia, would not be sent overseas, but that instead new units, consisting entirely of volunteers, would be raised as part of the
Australian Imperial Force. Two units were raised at this time, which are a part of the 25/49 RQR's narrative: the
25th Battalion and the
49th Battalion, which were both formed initially with a majority of Queensland-based volunteers. It suffered almost four thousand casualties, including 1,026 killed and 2,821 wounded (including gassed). The battalion was broken up in October 1918 to provide reinforcements to the
26th Battalion. The 49th Battalion, AIF, was formed in Egypt in early 1916 as part of an expansion of the AIF that occurred after the Gallipoli Campaign. It formed part of the
13th Brigade of the
4th Australian Division and served on the Western Front. Having arrived in the conflict after the 25th Battalion, the 49th suffered fewer casualties, having 769 killed and 1,419 wounded. It was disbanded in 1919.
Inter war years Following the end of World War I, the AIF was officially disbanded in 1921 and responsibility for the defence of Australia returned to the
Citizen Military Forces (CMF). It was decided that the CMF would be re-organised along similar lines to the AIF and that numerical designations and unit identities of the AIF be maintained within the CMF. In 1930, as a result of manpower shortages, the 25th Battalion was briefly amalgamated with the 49th Battalion to become the 25th/49th Battalion but was then delinked in 1934. Prior to World War II the 49th Battalion was amalgamated with the
9th Battalion to form the 9th/49th Battalion and tasked with defending South East Queensland. With the outbreak of World War II the battalion was again delinked.
World War II When World War II broke out in 1939 the fighting was initially confined to Europe and the Middle East. Once again it was decided to raise an all volunteer force for service overseas, this time known as the
Second Australian Imperial Force. The militia would again be used to carry out home defence duties. This changed, however, in 1941–42 when the Japanese attacks in
Malaya and at
Pearl Harbor brought the threat of war much closer to Australia. The decision was made to bring part of the AIF back to Australia; however, in order to defend against a possible Japanese drive through
Papua, elements of the Militia were sent to serve as garrison troops. As the situation worsened in 1942 a number of these units found themselves in the front lines. In 1965, the Pentropic structure was abandoned and in an effort to restore some of the local connections of CMF units, the original numerical designations were restored. With the Pentropic reorganisation, the 49th Battalion was re-raised as a remote area special conditions unit responsible for training national servicemen who, due to their residence in remote areas, had difficulty meeting their training obligations. In 1966, the battalion was re-raised as full battalion again, as part of the Royal Queensland Regiment. In 1991, the 49th Battalion became a Ready Reserve Battalion and following the cessation of the Ready Reserve scheme in 1997 it was once again amalgamated with the 25th Battalion to become the 25th/49th Battalion. Since 1997 members of the battalion have deployed to Malaysia, East Timor, Sierra Leone, The Solomon Islands, Egypt, Bougainville, and Iraq. The battalion forms part of the
11th Brigade, which is force-assigned to the
2nd Division, and it is still currently headquartered at Enoggera. ==Lineage==