2/9th Australian General Hospital

Morotai
Bootless Bay, Papua
History
Name	2/9th Australian General Hospital
Where formed	Adelaide
Date formed	1940
Capacity	1,200 beds (2,000 patients)
Locations	Abd El Kader, Egypt (1941); Gaza Ridge, Palestine (1941); Nazareth, Palestine (Aug 1941); Burwood, New South Wales (1942); Port Moresby, Papua (1942-1943); Morotai, Indonesia (Jun - Nov 1945)

General Information

The 2/9th AGH returned to Australia in early 1942 with the rest of the troops from the Middle East. In August 1942 male members of the unit were sent to establish the first general Hospital in Papua-New Guinea. When the unit arrived at Bootless Bay it was set up to receive all casualties from the forward areas before they were sent onto Australia. Known as the 17 Mile as that was its distance from Port Moresby. Although they had 1,200 beds, they had at times 2,000 patients., the overflow being accommodated on stretchers placed under the beds.

Female staff were not permitted in Papua until late October 1942 due to the uncertain military position. Medical patients outnumber war casualties almost 10 to 1. During this time the hospital was bombed by the Japanese but no casualties resulted. In January 1943 they received some assistance when the 2/5th AGH arrived to help. In March 1944 the 2/9th returned to Australia for a rest before being sent to Morotai between March and June 1945 to service the Borneo campaign. Along with the 2/5th AGH they handled many of the Australian POWs recovered from south east Asian camps.

Patients

• Francis Malarkey 14 - 20 Dec 1942
• Ralph Godfrey 14 Dec 1942 - 1 Jan 1943
• Eric Anderson 21 - 28 Dec 1942