Royal Tasmania Regiment Today
The 12th/40th Battalion, The Royal Tasmania Regiment, is part of 9 Brigade, with Battalion headquarters based at Derwent Barracks, Glenorchy, Alpha Company based in Launceston and Bravo Company at Warrane on Hobart's Eastern Shore. The Battalion serves in the light infantry role as part of 2 Division, Australia's main home defence formation.
The Unit is proud of its history within the 9th Brigade and 2nd Division for performing at a consistently high standard. This is supported by successes in past years in 9th Brigade and 2nd Division military skills competitions and strong showings on major Brigade activities. The participation rate of soldiers within major exercises is as high as any other unit and better than many other Army Reserve units nationally. Today the soldiers and officers of the 12th/40th Battalion have served overseas in the Solomon Islands under Operation Anode, Timor Leste under Operation Astute, Iraq and the Middle East under Operation Catalyst and Afghanistan under Operation Slipper as part of larger contingents.
The Battalion wears a blue and black lanyard, which comes from its links to the 12th and 40th Battalions. However, the unit's colour patch is that of the 12th Battalion, 1st Australian Imperial Force, which is white over sky blue. The regiment holds the colours of both the 12th and 40th Battalions. The Honorary Colonel of the Regiment is His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania.
Motto:
"Pro Aris Et Focis" – "For God and Our Country" or literally "For Altars and Hearths".
Regimental Marches:
The Royal Tasmania Regiment – "The Southlanders" 12th Battalion – "Captain Oldfield" 40th Battalion – "Invercargill"
Unit Mascot:
The unit mascot is a Sarcophilus Harrisii, commonly known as the Tasmanian Devil named TX 666 PTE Bluey Devil IV.
Freedom of Cities:
The Battalion holds the right of Freedom of Entry to the City of Hobart, granted on 5 February 1993.
The City of Launceston granted the 12th Independent Rifle Company, one of the units which formed 12th/40th Battalion, the Freedom of Entry on 22 November 1986.
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Famous quotes containing the words royal, regiment and/or today:
“High from the summit of a craggy cliff,
Hung o’er the deep, such as amazing frowns
On utmost Kilda’s shore, whose lonely race
Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds,
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young”
—James Thomson (1700–1748)
“What makes a regiment of soldiers a more noble object of view than the same mass of mob? Their arms, their dresses, their banners, and the art and artificial symmetry of their position and movements.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“If today there is a proper American “sphere of influence” it is this fragile sphere called earth upon which all men live and share a common fate—a sphere where our influence must be for peace and justice.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)