One of four infantry battalions raised in New Guinea, 4 NGIB was formed in the final stages of World War II to fight against the Japanese.

It eventually became part of the Pacific Islands Regiment, but due to the abrupt ending to the war, the battalion did not see action against the Japanese and was disbanded in October 1945 without seeing active service.

At the start of the war, New Guinea was a former German possession that had become a mandated territory administered by Australia after World War I, and Papua, which been annexed by Queensland in 1883, had been an Australian external territory since 1903.

[1] The New Guinea Volunteer Rifles was raised in 1939, but consisted entirely of Australian and European expatriates.

[1] Along with the Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB), and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd New Guinea Infantry Battalions, 4 NGIB formed part of the Pacific Islands Regiment (PIR), which had originally been formed in November 1944, when the PIB and 1 and 2 NGIB had been amalgamated into the regiment.