Initially raised for service during World War I, the battalion fought on the Western Front in France and Belgium between 1916 and 1918, before being disbanded in 1919.

Arriving in France on 23 June, the battalion experienced its first taste of fighting on the Western Front in July when it was involved in the Battle of Fromelles, suffering heavy casualties to machine gun fire when it attacked in the first wave.

During this phase of the war the 59th Battalion was not committed to any major attacks, but it did play a defensive role at the end of the Second Battle of Bullecourt in May, holding the ground that the Australians had gained earlier in the fighting.

Later in the year, the Australians were transferred to Belgium where, in late September, the 59th took part in the Battle of Polygon Wood.

[6] After the German offensive was halted, a brief period of lull followed during which the Allies sought to regain the initiative, and in early July, the 59th took part in a diversionary attack on the Ancre River during the Battle of Hamel.

In early October, the battalion was withdrawn from the line for rest and reorganisation, having suffered heavily during the earlier fighting.

As a result, the previously existing Citizen Force infantry regiments were redesignated to perpetuate the numbers of the AIF battalions.

[17] The 58/59th Battalion would go on to see action in World War II in the South-West Pacific during the New Guinea and Bougainville campaigns in 1943–1945.

[21][22] Australian novelist David Denholm, who wrote about World War II, served with the 58th/59th Battalion in New Guinea and on Bougainville.