On the morning of 19 February the ship arrived at Tanjong Priok where her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander T. Christy, RANR(S), reported to Commodore Collins and received orders to take temporary command of and, with a party of Royal Air Force personnel return in "Ballarat" to Oosthaven for salvage of air force material. With that mission accomplished Christy returned in "Ballarat" on 21 February, the date when the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command had cabled Winston Churchill that further efforts to hold Java and the purpose of the command itself were useless. Withdrawal from Java began and on 22 February "Ballarat", "Bendigo", "Burnie" and "Maryborough" replaced coal burning ships in the Sunda Strait Auxiliary Patrol established by Collins to prevent Japanese landings on Java from Sumatra with night crossings in small craft.