Australia does not appear to have produced Machetes until reasonably late in the war. The British Bolo pattern with plastic handle and known as Machet 15" does not appear to have been officially accepted until 1945. However there is evidence of the DC marked Bolo machete stamped 44 which probably indicates the year of manufacture. The Scott Trojan example I have seen is not dated.

I can only assume that machetes were sourced from England and the US prior to manufacture in Australia. I continue to look for evidence. However, Australia did adopt and manufacture the British Bolo style machete and manufactured the US M1942 pattern machete. Were they using these pattern machetes prior to this?



Bolo Style

The machete most commonly used by the Australian Army during WW2 were the (British) Bolo style of machete.

Scott Trojan

This Machete is by Scott Trojan & Sons, Victoria. It is 20 1/4" overall length with a blade 14 3/8" long. It has wooden handles. It is not dated and I have no information when they went in to service, or over what period.







Machet 15"

This is the most commonly encountered Australian WW2 machete. This machete has bakelite handles instead of wood as used previously. It is normally found with a canvas sheath, evidently a leather sheath was issued prior to the adoption of the canvas sheath

This machete is marked D /I\ D above DC 45. Examples are also found with 44. This is believed to be the year of manufacture.



This machete is marked D /I\ D above MP 44



I am still trying to establish who the manufacturer of these machetes was. There is a belief that DC may have been Die Casters a Melbourne based firm, however not everyone I have contacted agree with this. I am still searching for evidence to settle this.

I suspect that the maker MP was Marsden Products Pty Ltd of Sydney.

If anyone has any information that can help me, I would very much like to hear from them. Please



US M1942 pattern

This pattern machete was manufactured in Australia during WW2 for US forces. It most likely saw service with Australian troops as well.

The examples I am aware of are marked:
DC and
Marsden

Both leather and canvas sheaths have been noted with these machetes







US M1942 short

This machete appears to be based on the M1942 pattern and was manufactured in Australia during WW2 for US forces. It may have been used as an Air Crew machete and it may have been more convenient for use in heavy jungle. Any information on this machete would be appreciated.

The only examples I am aware of are by Marsden







Australian Army Machete

Late in WW2 Australia produced a distinctive machete for the Australian Forces which was completely different to the previous machetes. The machete has a 19 inch (43 cm) blade and a simple wooden handle. So far I am aware of two manufacturers:
Barker and
Whittingslowe


Whittingslowe

Whittingslowe Engineering in Adelaide produced this distinctive machete for the Australian Forces during WW2.

It is marked WHITTINGSLOWE ADELAIDE over D/I\D. I have no information on the sheath that would have accompanied this machete.






Air Force Survival

A survival machete for issue to air crews was manufactured in Australia during World War 2. These machetes' were issued to USAAF as well as Australian air crews.

The survival machete was made by several manufacturers:
Gregsteel
East Bros
There are also umarked versions.





These Machetes' were still being held in Australian stores up until the late 1960's. I have heard from one Australian Infantry Soldier who, while he was deployed to Vietnam in the late 1960's was issued one from the Q store by the staff who had a supply of them. Feeling it was a pretty useless piece of kit for infantry use, he just left it with his gear. On his return to Australia he had a knifemaker convert it in to a knife as a souvenir of his deployment.