2/7th Australian General Hospital

Kafr Balu, Palestine AWM photo
Aug 1945 Ward 3 at Lae, New Guinea photo AWM 094964
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

Raised at Seymour, Victoria in August 1940 it began life by manning dressing stations at Seymour Darley and Bonegilla. In October a draft of trained staff arrived from Tasmania and the unit moved to Puckapunyal until they left for the Middle East in February 1941. Arriving at Amiriya in Egypt in March the hospital moved to Rehovot in Palestine in April to relieve the 2/5th AGH which had been sent to Greece. In May 1942 the hospital moved to Kilo 89 and to Saida in Syria in July. However, with the German advance on El Alamein the hospital was moved to Buseilli east of Alexandria by the end of July. Here they acted as a forward hospital, evacuating long term patients back to the 2/6th Australian General Hospital at Gaza Ridge. With victory at El Alamein, the 2/7th Australian General Hospital was withdrawn and it left the Middle East for Australia in January 1943.

Following a period of leave, the hospital reassembled at Seymour before moving to Puckapunyal in April 1943 to relieve the 107th Australian general Hospital. Relieved in turn by the 86th Australian Camp Hospital in July, they moved to Liverpool, New South Wales before travelling to Buna in new Guinea in August 1943 to treat casualties of the attack on Lae. By November Lae had been captured and the hospital had been established there by May 1944. In early 1945 a detachment was sent to Nantambu in New Britain with the 36th Australian Infantry Brigade Group. During May 1945 the 6th Australian Hospital Laundry Unit was absorbed into the hospital and it remained at Munim, Lae until war's end.

Total operational service was 2,000 days from 1 Jul 1940 until 24 Dec 1945. 1,600 days service overseas. Providing care for troops from the 6th, 7th, and 9th Divisions, treating 24,799 patients in the Middle East an another 29,823 patients at Lae, new Guinea.

Staff

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

Patients

1941 - 1942 Kafr Balu Palestine

• Edward Arthur Sewell 28 Jun - 1 Jul 1941 & 26 Jul - 2 Aug 1941
• Edwin Reed Marshall 3 - 10 Jul 1941
• 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
• William Boyd Griffiths 21 - 29 Nov 1941
• Charles William (Charlie) Divall 10 Dec 1941 - 2 Jan 1942
• Thomas Geoffrey Eliot 6- 17 Jan 1942
• Ronald Gwynne 9 - 27 Jan 1942
• † John Hector Russell MacDonald 15 Apr - 8 May 1942

Buseilli, Egypt

• Robert Henry Fletcher 27 - 31 Aug 1942
• Thomas Geoffrey Eliot 27 - 31 Aug 1942 & 3 - 7 Sep 1942
• Edward Arthur Sewell 7 - 14 Sep 1942 & 19 Sep 1942

1944 - 1945 Lae, New Guinea

• Derrick Leonard Saw 26 Aug - 25 Sep 1944
• Derrick Leonard Saw 24 - 29 Nov 1944
• Thomas Malarkey 8 - 15 Feb 1945
• Brian Bevis 19 - 25 Feb 1945
• Francis (George) Hicks MM 23 Mar - 18 Apr 1945
• Herbert Patrick Carter 11 - 16 Jun 1945
• Cecil Sydney Fahey 29 Jul - 5 Aug 1945
• Thomas Donald Neilson 7 - 13 Sep 1945
• James Bryden 9 - 17 Oct 1945
• Percival Norman (Percy) Buckingham 15 Oct 1945 - 28 Dec 1945

Individual Honours

• 1 x Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• 37 x Mentioned in Despatches
• 4 x Royal Red Cross (2nd Class)