The auxiliary minesweeper HMAS BIRCHGROVE PARK, was commissioned. BIRCHGROVE PARK was laid down in 1930. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners, R. W. Miller & Co Pty Ltd, on 9 May 1941.
HMAS Stuart with her port engine out of commission sailed from the Mediterranean for Australia. Steaming on one engine she reached Fremantle on 16 September and Melbourne on 27 September where a long refit was begun which kept her in dockyard hands until April 1942.