Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

2nd/6th Australian General Hospital (WW2)

The 2nd /6th  Australian General Hospital (AGH) was formed in July 1940 in Sydney.  It was established as a very large 1,200-bed facility that treated casualties across multiple theatres of war. The unit served in the Middle East (including Gaza and Jerusalem), treated wounded personnel in Greece and Crete, and later supported Australian troops at the massive Training areas established near Rocky Creek on the Atherton Tableland.  The 2nd/6th deployed to Morotai then Labuan in Bormeo, supporting of Operation Oboe, late in the Pacific War.

A detailed timeline of the unit's movements highlights its extensive service:

July 1940: Formed at Sydney Showgrounds.
Dec 1940 – 1941: Boarded the HMT Queen Mary for the Middle East, setting up medical facilities in Palestine.
April 1941: Nurses and staff were redeployed to Greece supporting Operation Lustre.
As German forces advanced rapidly down the Greek peninsula in mid-April 1941, the matrons of the 2/5th and 2/6th AGH were ordered to execute a swift, immediate evacuation of female medical and nursing staff.
Due to severely limited transport, the female nurses and physiotherapists were rushed south via trucks and trains.
The women of the 2/6th AGH successfully boarded the destroyer HMAS Voyager at the port of Nafplion on 20 April 1941, escaping safely to Crete and then back to Egypt.
However, some male medical officers and orderly personnel were taken as Prisoners of War, as they had remained behind to continue caring for heavily wounded soldiers who could not be moved.
The 2nd/6th’s ‘sister’ unit—the 2/5th AGH—was cut off and  captured almost in its entity, less their evacuated nurses, in Athens.  However, small detached elements from the 2/6th AGH, comprising drivers, and male medical teams supporting the 6th Division were also swept up in the final retreats and held in transit camps such as Corinth and Salonika before being sent to Stalags in Germany and Austria.

1942: In Palestine, the 2nd/6th established and operated a 1,200-bed base hospital at Gaza Ridge, in support of the 9th Division, while also sending surgical teams to the Western Desert.
Feb 1943: Returned to Australia, docking in Sydney.
April 1943 – Sept 1945: Established as massive hospital at Rocky Creek on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, treating approximately 60,000 casualties and malaria cases coming directly from the New Guinea campaigns, and supporting the massive training area established in the region.
July – Dec 1945:  Redeployed to Labuan (Borneo) as part of ‘Operation Oboe’  to treat further combat casualties and Japanese PoW until the cessation of hostilities.

We would particularly like to encourage individual historians researchers or members of unit associations to contribute to the development of a more detailed history and photographs pertaining to this unit and its members.

Please contact [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) for details on how to contribute.