The concept of writing a book about the history of the 2/1st Pioneer Battalion was conceived by Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Osborn MVO, ED. He also wrote the major portion of the book whilst Max Law wrote the chapters on Palestine, New Guinea and Balikpapan. Bill Jollie covered the Quarry and Atherton Tableland and from information received from Stan Goulston and Geoff Dynon, the Medical Story was compiled by Steve Clarke, who also wrote the disbandment.
The authors relied largely on the War Diary made available by the Australian War Memorial.
As of 2024 these are now available as digital downloads from https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search?query=2%2F1st%20Pioneer%20Battalion%20War%20Diaries&collection=true&facet_type=Digitised%20Collection
This official history of the 2/1st Pioneer Battalion (The Pioneers: The Story of 2/1st Australian Pioneer battalion, 2nd A.I.F. 1940-1946) was published in 1988 by MD Herron under the auspices of the Association with ISBN 0 7316 2145X. The Appendices contain a list of Honours and Awards, Roll of Honour and Nominal Roll of members of the 2/1st Pioneer Battalion (see Rolls in this pull-down menu). Copies of the original book are now very rare. One found in 2015 was being sold for $120!
This prompted a recent reprint of the 2/1st pioneers book which has been very successful. They have been well received and a few are still available from the Secretary, David Herron, if anyone requires more (use the ‘Contact Us’ link at the bottom of this page).