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1st Field Ambulance

From Our Contribution

1st Field Amb Gallipoli.jpg
Stretcher bearers of the 1st Field Ambulance about four days after the landing at Anzac Cove. AWM C02148
1st Field Amb France.jpg
1st Aust Field Ambulance, placing wounded in an ambulance at chalk pits in front of Mericourt. AWM P09114.018
1st Field Ambulance.jpg


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

France
1916

1917

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

Notes


External Links