The record
The Australian Army standardised on the long-wheelbase Land Rover as its light truck in the Series 2 era. The first Series 2 109s, in service from around 1960, were what the Registry of Ex-Military Land Rovers (REMLR) describes as "more-or-less civilian" vehicles, while the Series 2A ¾-ton units supplied from 1963 to 1966 went mainly to specialty conversions — ambulances, fire tenders, survey and workshop bodies — before the definitive Series 2A ¾-ton GS (census 6028) arrived in numbers around 1966–67. Like most Australian-market Land Rovers of the period, the Army's vehicles were assembled from knocked-down kits by Pressed Metal Corporation at Enfield in Sydney, which had held the Rover assembly contract since the mid-1950s and continued building Land Rovers into the 1980s; REMLR records both four- and six-cylinder 109s coming through Pressed Metal Corporation as late as 1971–72.
The Army-pattern GS trucks differed substantially from civilian 109s. The chassis gained extended front spring mounts and rear shackles for extra ride height, an extra outrigger carrying a duplicate 10-gallon fuel tank, longer shock absorbers and 7.50-16 tyres, while the 2.25-litre petrol engine ran twin fan belts. Exterior fittings included the characteristic brushguard ("bull bar"), bridge-classification plate, blackout light, pioneer-tool brackets, NATO trailer socket, twin fuel fillers and a canvas strap for the folded windscreen — the canvas-tilted, bull-barred silhouette the registry model reproduces. Some 109s carried an Army-specification PTO winch made by Bamfords of Victoria.
Early vehicles were delivered in gloss Bronze Green enamel (the British Deep Bronze Green standard); from April 1967 the fleet was over-sprayed in the Australian Army's own flat, infrared-reflective Olive Drab, with white-painted bumper corners and rear diff for convoy work and stencilled load-sign markings. The Series 2 and 2A 109s soldiered on through the Vietnam era and beyond until progressively replaced by Series 3 and, from 1987, Perentie 110 fleets; many survive with collectors and in unit museums.
