RAEME 3 Base Workshop
An Australian Army base workshop of the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers at Broadmeadows, Victoria, which in 1963–64 converted 69 short-wheelbase Land Rovers into the 106 mm recoilless rifle 'Gunbuggy' anti-tank vehicle — the longest-serving Land Rover conversion on record.
History
RAEME is the Australian Army's engineering corps, raised as the Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers on 1 December 1942 and granted the 'Royal' prefix in 1948; its craftsmen maintain, modify and recover the Army's vehicles, weapons and equipment. Base workshops sat at the deepest level of that structure, doing the heavy rebuilding, manufacture and modification work that field and infantry workshops could not. 3 Base Workshop appears in Australian War Memorial unit records as a Second World War AEME unit, and post-war it was established at Broadmeadows, in Melbourne's north, on the Army camp later known as Maygar Barracks.
Its entry in this registry rests on one programme. In 1963–64 the Australian Army had 3 Base Workshop convert existing Series 2 and newly delivered Series 2A 88-inch general service Land Rovers into carriers for the M40A1 106 mm recoilless rifle — officially 'Fitted For Rifle 106mm', kit LV6/MT/C100064, and universally the Gunbuggy. Research by the Australian War Memorial's Mike Cecil puts the total at 69 vehicles, 24 on Series 2 and 45 on Series 2A. The work was drastic: doors, roof, tailgate and windscreen removed, the seat bulkhead cut away so the gun mount could sit on the chassis centre crossmember, rear suspension and chassis reinforced, twin fuel tanks relocated into the seatbox and the rear body reworked to stow six rounds. A surviving logbook records one conversion taking 301 man-hours. Gunbuggies served the Royal Australian Armoured Corps and the anti-armour platoons of the Royal Australian Regiment, went to Vietnam, and some were still in service in 1996.
No published history of the unit itself could be traced during this research: its formation and disbandment dates, establishment and the rest of its work are not documented in the sources found. What is on record is that Defence decided in 1990 to dispose of most of the Broadmeadows Army Camp under the Defence Logistics Redevelopment Project, and that RAEME's last independent workshop unit was disbanded on 1 December 2006.
Vehicles in this registry (1)
Sources & citations
- Gunbuggy Series 2 + 2A (conversions carried out by RAEME at 3 Base Workshop, Broadmeadows, Victoria; 69 vehicles per Mike Cecil — 24 Series 2 and 45 Series 2A; 301 man-hours per logbook; service to 1996) ↗ — Registry of Ex-Military Land Rovers (REMLR) (accessed 2026-09-10)
- 3 Base Workshop — unit record (Australian Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, Second World War, 1939–1945; 10 photographs held) ↗ — Australian War Memorial (accessed 2026-09-10)
- Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (AEME formed 1 December 1942, 'Royal' prefix 1948; maintenance engineering, materiel maintenance, modification and recovery support; last independent RAEME workshop disbanded 1 December 2006) ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-10)
- Maygar Barracks, Broadmeadows (Broadmeadows Army Camp; part of the site earmarked for disposal from 1990 under the Defence Logistics Redevelopment Project) ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-10)
Maker record updated 2026-09-10T05:40:28.277Z · status: draft