Thirty-five years ago, 1872 Australians, including Australian Defence Force (ADF) health personnel, served in the Persian Gulf between August 1990 and the ceasefire in February 1991. While primarily a Royal Australian Navy task group, involving HMAS Adelaide, HMAS Darwin, HMAS Sydney, HMAS Brisbane, HMAS Success and HMAS Westralia in maritime interdiction, sanctions enforcement and replenishment… Read more »
Editorial As we enter 2026, consideration needs to be given to various conflicts and touchpoints around the globe, from Ukraine to South Sudan, Middle East to the South China Sea While the Australian Defence Force has not been drawn directly into these conflicts, there remains the potential for escalation, for which we all need to… Read more »
In 2025, we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Second World War – the last ‘total war.’ As a country, we are fortunate that we have not seen any further ‘total wars’ since 1945, but this does not preclude them occurring in the future. ‘Total war’, as a concept, arose at the end of the… Read more »
In 1961, Edward Carr noted that ‘the past is intelligible to us only in the light of the present, and we can fully understand the present only in the light of the past’.1 George Chesney’s story of the invasion of England in the Battle of Dorking (1871), one of the early attempts to predict the… Read more »
Introduction Over the last 85 years, medical support to Special Operations Forces (SOF) units has evolved from rudimentary beginnings to highly sophisticated care. While some of this evolution reflects changes in clinical medicine during that period, particularly in civilian trauma management, the progress in health support in other areas reflects the innovative forefront of military… Read more »
Transformation of War In 1991, Martin van Creveld, in ‘The Transformation of War’, speculated on what the character of war would be in a post-Cold War era.1 His assessment focused on who would be fighting, the reasons for and the aim of the conflict, and how and why war would be fought in the future.1 van… Read more »
INTRODUCTION GAIL BELL, IN HER BOOK “THE POISON PRINCIPLE”, tries to establish why people use poison2. She looks back over the centuries, from Cleopatra and Socrates to more modern poisoners like Crippen, and speculates that, with advanced analytical technology, the heyday of poisons is over2. But is it? Contact poisons are those chemicals and toxins… Read more »
INTRODUCTION CS IS THE GENERIC NAME FOR the lacrimating agent 0-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile (2-chloroben zalmalonitrile), which was originally developed in 1928 by B.B. Corson and R.W. Stoughton1,2 CS is normally solid, which is disseminated either dissolved in a solvent Liquid (ace tone, methyl isobutyl ketone or methylene chloride) or in a particulate form as a smoke.1 The latter… Read more »
SSN- Strategies of Submarine Warfare Tom Clancy Harper Collins: London 1996 This is a fiction work by Tom Clancy based on ‘SSN’. a CD-ROM game by Simon and Schuster Interactive. The book looks at 15 different submarine scenarios based on a limited regional war between China and the United States over the Spratly Islands in… Read more »
THE EXPLOSION AT CHERNOBYL IN 1986 is the best known of the Russia n nuclear accidents. Recently, however, information has become available on other Russian nuclear accidents occurring in the 1950s and 1960s. This brief report will look at the two main accidents from that era. K-19 K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine armed with… Read more »
Gupta L, Ward J, Hayward RSA. Future directions for clinical practice guidelines: Needs, lead agencies and potential dissemination strategies identified by Australian general practitioners. ANZ J Pub Health 1997; 21(5): 495-499 There has been an increasing interest in developing clinical practice guidelines for general practitioners as a means of improving health outcomes. We conducted a… Read more »
ANOTHER INTERESTING FORTNIGHT has come to an end, as our ADF ships and personnel pre-deploy to the Gulf. One of the key issues over this period has been the Australian Defence Forces Anthrax Vaccination Program. While generally not controversial, the Anthrax Vaccination Program has reached that status with help from the media and the ADF… Read more »
‘Murder by poisoning is a crime of devilish wickedness and inhumanity which no language can adequately describe. ‘ John Glaister (1954) Introduction Gail Bell, in her book ‘The Poison Principle’, tries to establish why people use poison2. She looks back over the centuries, from Cleopatra and Socrates to more modem poisoners like Crippen, and speculates… Read more »
Leadership and resilience in a crisis I recently presented to the Royal United Services Institute in New South Wales on leadership and resilience in a crisis. I particularly noted that while there have been multiple texts published on military leadership, there is limited guidance on leadership in a prolonged crisis and even less guidance on… Read more »
After the war The theme for this year’s AMMA conference is “After the War: Repatriation, recovery and public health”. The impetus for this theme was the realisation that 100 years ago, in 1919, our forebears were just coming to terms with the fact that the Great War, the War to end all Wars, was finally… Read more »
D-Day and Binh Ba – 6 June Just over 75 years ago, 7,000 vessels carried 190,000 sailors and 130,000 soldiers across the English Channel to five designated beaches – Utah and Omaha on the American side, Gold and Sword for the British, and Juno for the Canadians. Some 7,000 aircraft took part, including transport planes,… Read more »
Repatriation In early 1917, even before victory was assured, Prime Minister ‘Billy’ Hughes promised the country’s armed forces that ‘When you come back we will look after you’. Repatriation or ‘Repat’ was born. The theme of this issue is ‘repatriation’ – a very Australian concept that is as relevant today as it was in 1917…. Read more »
Wither Nuclear? In this issue, Heslop and Westphalen review medical chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defence in the Australian Defence Force.1 The ongoing interest of militaries and non-state actors in these weapons, while waxing and waning over the last 100 years, continues, and requires appropriate military health preparations. While chemical, biological and, to a… Read more »
Battle of the Atlantic On 24 May 1943, Grand Admiral Karl Donitz withdrew his U-boats from the north Atlantic, signalling the end of the Battle of the Atlantic. During that month, 41 U-boats were lost to escort ships and patrolling aircraft. While they continued to operate until the end of the war, the U-boats were… Read more »
On 28th February 1942, HMAS PERTH, a light cruiser, and USS HOUSTON, a heavy cruiser, having survived the Battle of the Java Sea the previous day, stopped briefly in Tanjung Priok, Jakarta’s port, to take on limited supplies of fuel and ammunition, before being ordered to withdraw to the south of Java via the Sunda… Read more »
Editorial – Baros of Sirovi I have just returned to Perth after a month on board USNS Mercy as part of Pacific Partnership 2015. In Bougainville, near the port of Kieta, a group of Australians from the ship had the opportunity to clean-up and refurbish a World War 2 memorial monument to Baros of Sirovi…. Read more »
This issue will probably be arriving in people’s letter boxes just as we are preparing to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Gallipoli landings on 25 April 1914. The battles fought in Gallipoli, northern Africa and the Western Front, at sea and in the air, would cement the ANZACs reputation as a fighting force and… Read more »
As we move into 2015, we have a unique opportunity to look back to the origins of Australian Defence Force health services 100 years ago, the changes in Defence healthcare in the intervening years and where we might expect to go into the future. The fundamentals of conflicts and wars themselves have changed – from… Read more »
As we move closer to the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War, I am constantly reminded of the sacrifices made by our ancestors to fight that war. In this issue, the Journal has reprinted the HMAS Sydney’s Medical Officer’s log for 09 November 1914 as she battled the SMS Emden near the Cocos Islands. In keeping with this World War 1 theme, this issue has two excellent articles on the challenges of Army recruiting during the war and on the formation of medical units in response to the epidemic in the Palestine in 1918. Further articles on World War I will be published in future issues.
This issue also looks at the management of mid-facial fractures, mental distress in military personnel and the history of tuberculosis, a disease that has plagued conflict and humanitarian assistance situations, in two parts.
As Editor, I continue to look for relevant and interesting papers, both academic and operational, for future issues. I encourage all our readers to consider publishing in JMVH in your area of expertise or interest.
During the recent Australasian Military Medicine Association (AMMA) conference in Adelaide in early November, I was fortunate to stumble upon a nearby antiquarian bookshop, where I found a copy of Surgeon Rear-Admiral T.T. Jeans “Reminiscences of a Naval Surgeon”, where he details his career as a naval medical officer and surgeon between 1895 and 1925…. Read more »
Sixty-eight years ago, on 15 August 1945, hostilities with Japan officially ended at 12 noon. When His Royal Highness Duke of Gloucester made the announcement in Canberra, three flags were flown. They were the flag raised by Australian troops at Villiers Bretonneux in the First World War, the flag worn by HMAS SYDNEY when she… Read more »
On the 21 July 1919, the RMO of 30th Battalion AIF, Captain Gordon Robertson demobilised after returning to Australia on the Leicestershire on 21 June 1919. Post demobilisation, he took up a station near Tumblong, New South Wales, where he built his new home. He set up a medical practice in nearby Gundagai, becoming a… Read more »
On the 30 July 1918, the RMO of 57th Battalion AIF, Captain Gordon Robertson, wrote to the CO of 57th Battalion re “Health of Men”. In his report, he states: “Since the last report on the health of the men we have been in reserve in the FRANVILLIERS line where the men were not under… Read more »
The theme for this Edition is the history of developments in military medicine. As I was preparing for this Edition, I was reminded of some letters that I had from my great-uncle, Captain Gordon O. Robertson, who was the Regimental Medical Officer for the 57th Battalion, A.I.F. in 1918. On the 10th July 1918, he… Read more »
Welcome to 2012, which promises to be another challenging year, with the London Olympics and the ‘end of the world’ planned. Let’s hope the latter joins the ranks of previous predictions and the 2013 Editorial is being prepared around this time in 12 months. This issue brings together the abstracts of the varied and excellent… Read more »
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has just completed successfully in Perth with the joint assistance of the Australian Government, Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Western Australian State Government. While the considerable capabilities of the ADF did not need to be seriously tested, the planning from all agencies ensured a smooth and trouble-free… Read more »
Over sixty years ago, at 4 AM on 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Australian forces were committed rapidly, with the Australian Government sending HMAS Shoalhaven and HMAS Bataan to assist on 29 June, No. 77 Mustang Fighter Squadron on 30 June and 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment on 26 July 1950. Welcome… Read more »
As I write this Editorial, I am on a flight to Port Hedland and am once again reminded of the size of this country, its often harsh environmental conditions and the ongoing challenges in defending it. This Edition further develops a number of those themes, from historical military challenges to operational clinical management and mental… Read more »
One of the important lessons that all military health personnel should learn early on is that, as originally expostulated by George Santayana, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I have recently reviewed some old letters from my Great-Uncle Captain Gordon Ochiltree Robertson, who served as the Regimental Medical Officer (RMO)… Read more »
Billy Bacon couldn’t outrun the German machine gun bullets, although his actions saved the lives of two of his fellow diggers. I have just returned from seeing ‘Beneath Hill 60’, which details the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Division and the mining of the Messine Ridge in Belgium in 1916. This excellent Australian movie… Read more »
Fred Skeeles Victoria Park: Hesperian Press; 2008 (ISBN 978-0-85905-419-5: 151 pages) In September 2000, I reviewed ‘Proud Echo’ by Ronald McKie for Australian Military Medicine1. ‘Proud Echo’ narrated the history of the Battle of Sunda Straits, and of the events that followed, from the accounts of individual sailors. On the night of 28 February… Read more »
