 It had originally been planned that the battalion would be raised from personnel drawn from outside of Victoria and it was designated as an "outer states" battalion meaning that it would draw its recruits from the less populous states of Queensland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia; however, due to the large number of recruits that had arrived at Broadmeadows at the time it was decided to raise the battalion there, from Victorian volunteers.As a result of the hasty decision to raise the battalion very little training was carried out before the battalion sailed from Melbourne just a week after being formed.Organised into four rifle companies, designated 'A' through to 'D', with a machine gun section in support, the battalion had an authorised strength of 1,023 men of all ranks.