2/7th Australian General Hospital

Palestine
History
Name	2nd/7th Australian General Hospital
Where formed	Victoria
Date formed	1 Jul 1940
Capacity	1,200 beds
Locations	Kufr Balu in Palestine, Syria, Buseilli in Egypt and Lae in New Guinea.

General Information

Total operational service was 2,000 days from 1 Jul 1940 until 24 Dec 1945. 1,600 days service overseas. Provided care for troops from the 6th, 7th, and 9th Divisions, treating 24,799 patients in the Middle East at Kafr Balu, near Rehovot in Palestine. Today Rehovot is a city of more than 140,000 people about 20 kilometers south of Tel Aviv in Israel. At Buseilli, Egypt during October and November 1942 the 2/7th AGH acted as a Casualty Clearing Station for those injured in the Battle for El Alamein.

The hospital returned to Australia in 1942 along with the rest of the Australian troops in Palestine and it was redeployed in 1944 to Lae in Papua New Guinea where it treated another 29,823 patients.

Staff

• Percival Norman (Percy) Buckingham 15 Oct - 29 Dec 1945

Patients

1940

• Charles William Divall 10 Dec 1940 - 2 Jan 1941

1941 Kafr Balu Palestine

• Walter Cyril Tomlinson 5 - 21 Jul 1941
• Raymond Eric Gerard Bennett 30 Jul - 13 Aug 1941
• † Victor Charles Lowe 1 - 5 Aug 1941
• Walter Leonard Axford 28 Aug - 12 Nov 1941
• Douglas Edward Cleave Steer 31 Oct 1941
• George Charles Owens 18 Nov 1941 - 4 Dec 1941

1942 Kafr Balu, Palestine

• Ronald Gwynne 9 - 27 Jan 1942

1944 Lae, New Guinea

• Derrick Leonard Saw 26 Aug - 25 Sep 1944
• Derrick Leonard Saw 24 - 29 Nov 1944

1945 Lae, New Guinea

• Thomas Malarkey 8 - 15 Feb 1945
• Herbert Patrick Carter 11 - 16 Jun 1945
• Thomas Donald Neilson 7 - 13 Sep 1945
• James Bryden 9 - 17 Oct 1945
• Percival Norman (Percy) Buckingham 15 Oct 1945 - 28 Dec 1945