1st Field Ambulance

Stretcher bearers of the 1st Field Ambulance about four days after the landing at Anzac Cove. AWM C02148

1st Aust Field Ambulance, placing wounded in an ambulance at chalk pits in front of Mericourt. AWM P09114.018

Brief History

In August 1914 the Australian Government was raising the AIF, based on Divisions, Brigades and Units. Field Ambulances were allocated and numbered according to their Brigade. Thus the 1st Australian Field Ambulance was allocated to the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division. On the 20th August 1914 recruits were mustered at Victoria Barracks, Sydney and marched to Queens Park to set up the camp. On the 16 Oct 1914 the Field Ambulance embarked onto the Transport Ships "Clan MacQuorquodale" and "Euripedes", bound for Albany, Western Australia, where they were joined by other Transport Ships to form a convoy of 36 ships holding 20,758 troops, 7479 horses, which departed on the 1st November 1914 for active service overseas.

The Unit left Alexandria by ship transport, the "City of Benares" on the 3rd April 1915, bound for Lemnos, which it reached on the 7th April 1915. It landed at Gallipoli on the 25th April 1915 and the Field Ambulance was established near the beach. On Gallipoli, the Field Ambulances were 'on the beach'. Subsequent evacuation was by ship to Lemnos Island, then to Malta and ultimately to the United Kingdom where soldiers might be hospitalised for many months. Then they would undergo rehabilitation, either in the UK or in serious cases they might be repatriated back to Australia. Many of the wounded succumbed to their wounds in transit. They would be buried at sea in the traditional naval fashion.

1st Australian Field Ambulance left Anzac on the evening of the 9th September 1914, arriving at Lemnos the next morning. Christmas 1915, spent on Lemnos Island was celebrated very quietly.The First Brigade then proceeded to Egypt and France after the evacuation. Sixty six men died while posted to this unit.

Patients

Gallipoli

• Alfred Cecil Clarence Curtis 11 Jul 1915
• Arthur Thomas Orton MM 19 Aug 1915
• George Sidney Cook 25 - 28 Aug 1915
• Cyril Foxwell 30 Aug - 2 Sep 1915
• John Harold Coffen 4 Sep 1915
• Henry John Robert Saint 4 Sep 1915

France
1916

• † Edward (Ted) Harry Darby 1 May 1916
• Aubrey Cecil Dawson 22 Jul 1916
• John James Thorpe 24 Jul 1916
• Percival (Peter) Clement Bassett 28 Jul 1916
• † Frederick Thornton Lindley 29 Jul 1916

1917

• Terry de Bohun Helm 13 Feb 1917
• William George Rosekelly 17 Feb - 1 Mar 1917
• Frederick William Thornton 20 Feb 1917
• † Elmer Winfred Drake Laing MC 25 Feb 1917
• Charles Henry Partridge 25 Feb 1917
• † George Scrivener 26 Feb 1917
• Arthur Thomas Orton MM 9 - 20 Mar 1917
• Frederick Selkirk 3 Jul 1917
• George Turner 15 Sep 1917

1918

• George Joseph Harris 13 Feb 1918
• John Harold Coffen 28 Feb 1918
• John Goffin 7 Mar 1918
• Alfred Ernest Andrews 14 - 18 Mar 1918
• Walter Gaymer 14 - 18 Mar 1918
• † Albert Ernest Elkington 19 Mar 1918
• † Edward (Ted) Harry Darby 29 Mar 1918
• Charles Richard Irvine MM & Bar 29 Mar 1918
• Herbert Lewis Battams 23 Aug 1918
• Alfred Warburton Chapman (Jnr) 12 - 13 Dec 1918
• Sydney Scott 31 Dec 1918

Individual Honours

• 4 x Distinguished Service Order
• 3 x Military Cross
• 3 x Distinguished Conduct Medal
• 42 x Military Medal
• 3 x Meritorious Service Medal
• 9 x Mentioned in Despatches
• 1 x Belgium Croix de Guerre
• 1 x French Croix de Guerre