Series number

AWM313

Series title

Records of 1 Australian Field Hospital (1 Aust Fd Hosp) – Vietnam

Contents date range

1965 - 1972

Extent

5.6 metres

Access conditions

Subject to the Archives Act (1983)

Agency controlling

Department of Defence

Custodial agency

Australian War Memorial

Function and provenance

1 Australian Field Hospital (1 Aust Fd Hosp) was raised on 1 April 1968 at Vung Tau in South Vietnam as a replacement for 8th Field Ambulance.  The designation ‘Australian’ was included in the title to distinguish it from the many United States field hospitals which were also established in South Vietnam, and was dropped on its return to Australia.  When the unit took over the 60 bed hospital previously operated by 8 Field Ambulance plans were underway for the construction of a new hospital containing an operating theatre, an intensive care unit, triage facilities, an increase in the number of wards, radiology and pathology departments and other specialist services.  This upgrade became necessary due to the increasing number of Australian troops which were being committed to South Vietnam and the subsequent increased demand for medical services.

Unit personnel consisted mainly of regular soldiers with some conscripted soldiers from the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC), nursing sisters from the Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC) and other support staff.  The surgical capacity was maintained by Citizens’ Military Force (CMF) specialists from the Army, Navy and Air Force Reserves and civilian specialists who did three month tours.  General Medical Officers were made up mainly of Regular Army and CMF full time commissions.  Also attached to the hospital at Vung Tau were 33 Dental Unit, 1 Field Medical and Dental Unit, 1 Field Hygiene Coy and the Red Cross.

During its period of operation the hospital established itself as a centre of excellence for military medicine.  As well as battle casualties it also treated large numbers of cases of malaria, non-malarial fevers, gastro-intestinal disease and venereal disease.  Staff also provided outreach clinics on their ‘days off’ to the orphanage at Baria, various villages and some refugee camps.  Most medical personnel were withdrawn from 1 Aust Fd Hosp in late November 1971 and returned to Australia.  The unit was relocated to Manunda Lines, Ingleburn, NSW in December 1971.  In December 1996 it moved into a new purpose built hospital at Holsworthy Barracks.

Since Vietnam, personnel from the unit have served as part of a Tri-Service contingent providing medical and surgical services in deployments to Namibia (Untag), Persian Gulf, Cambodia (UN), Somalia (UNITAF), Rwanda (UNIMAR), and Bougainville and in July 1998 provided emergency healthcare to the victims of the tsunami at Vanimo, New Guinea.  In September 1999 the unit deployed as a whole and served as part of the Australian led InterFET contingent in East Timor.  On 16 August 2000 the 1 Australian Field Hospital underwent a name change and is now known as the 1 Health Support Battalion.

The records of 1 Aust Fd Hosp were amongst the first major transfer of records from the Department of Defence to the Australian War Memorial relating to the Vietnam War which occurred between November 1981 and March 1982.  This consignment was accessioned as OW82/11.  They formed part of a large series which was designated as AWM100 in the mid 1980s when the Memorial adopted its new numbering system.

The registry cards which controlled this series of records were transferred in February 1982, accessioned as OW82/20 and later designated AWM104.

Since 1999 Official Records staff have removed subseries from AWM100, and registered each of them as a separate series of records.  The records of 1 Aust Fd Hosp were added to the RecordSearch database in November 2002 and the series was redesignated AWM313.

Content

1 Aust Fd Hosp created its files to document its activities, to record events and to enable efficient retrieval for future reference.  The files in this series include the following categories: accidents and casualties, accommodation, amenities, competitions, sports and trophies, finance, hygiene and sanitation, leave, medical, orders and instructions, reports, training and visits.

System of arrangement and control

The system of arrangement and control is the original Department of the Army filing system, as used when the records were created.

Registered files

Registered items have a three-part item number conforming with the Department of the Army registry classification of correspondence catalogue.  The first number represents the primary topic of the item, the second and third numbers refine the topic further.

Non registered files

Non registered items (not having registered item numbers) were given imposed numbers by the Australian War Memorial (AWM), beginning at 1 and continuing serially.  They are single numbers, not two or three part numbers like the registered items.  They retain their original titles.  Where no title was found, the AWM has imposed one that best describes the item’s contents.  All imposed information is enclosed in square brackets.

Using the series

Each item in the series is recorded on the RecordSearch database which researchers can access via the Internet.  Further assistance in finding relevant information may be gained from related series of records (click on Series Links at the bottom of this page).

The original registry cards which control this series form part of series AWM104.  They can also be accessed in the Memorial’s Research Centre.

Sources

AWM administrative file, AWM313 Series dossier

James, W. B. 1994, ‘The medical story – Australian forces South Vietnam 1962-1972, Duty First, Vol 1, No 6, pp. 37-41

O’Keefe, Brendan and Smith, F. B. 1994, Medicine at war: medical aspects of Australia’s involvement in Southeast Asia 1950-1972, St Leonards, NSW, Allen and Unwin

‘1st (Aust) Field Hospital Association’  [website accessed May 2004]

http://www.callsignvampire.org.au/