Australian Army Medical Corps, World War I

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Australia Military Hospitals

Australian Army Medical Corps

During the First World War, the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC) operated military hospitals in Australia and overseas – 103 hospital and aid posts, and six ships. For comparison, in 2023 Queensland currently has 106 hospitals, admitting almost a million patients, providing more than one and a half million emergency services and about 3,500,000 outpatient services a year. The AAMC, as indeed each of the Corps and Services, were branches of the Commonwealth (later Australian) Military Force. Individual units may hav then belonged either to the Commonwealth Military Force or its all-volunteer expeditionary force, the Australian Imperial Force. Whilst the AAMC provided doctors and orderlies, the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) provided the nurses.

Types of AAMC units

• General Hospitals (1st to 17th AGH) were large base hospitals with 250, 500 or 1000 beds. The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th and 14th served overseas; the other twelve were based in Australia.
• The General Hospitals also generally administered a number of Auxiliary Hospitals (1st to 28th), hospitals set up in rear echelon areas with no fixed establishment.
• Stationary Hospitals (1st & 2nd SH; Flying Corps Stationary Hospital) were smaller hospitals, generally based in forward areas.
• Casualty Clearing Stations (1st to 3rd CCS) were small hospitals, generally located at a railhead or similar transportation hub in forward areas. Their job was to provide emergency treatment and to evacuate casualties back to the stationary and general hospitals.
• Convalescent Homes or Command Depots (1st to 8th Conv; 1st to 4th Cmd) were half way houses for casualties returning to the front — men who no longer required hospitalisation but were not yet fit to rejoin their units.
• The Field Ambulance (1st to 17th FA; 1st to 7th Light Horse FA; Camel FA) were the equivalent of the modern paramedics, on the ground providing life-saving first aid treatment.
• There were also Infectious Diseases Hospitals (1st to 6th) and Sanitary Sections (1st to 9th); as well as
• Hospital Ships transported stabilised patients from the European Continent and Middle East to Great Britain or evacuated troops home to Australia:
  • HMAHS Karoola A63
  • HMAHS Kanowna A61
  • HMAT Kyarra A55
  • HMAS Aquitania
  • HMAS Grantala
  • SS Ryarra - (?)
• Veterinary Hospitals were serviced directly by the Australian Army Veterinary Corps.

Sources and Bibliography

• Australian WWI Hospitals; accessed 12 Jul 2019.
• Wikipedia: List of Australian Army medical units in World War I; accessed 12 Jul 2019.