Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Date of Discharge

17/04/1923

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

01/05/1893

Place of Birth

Marrickville NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Fort Street School (Sydney)

Occupation

Soldier

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

5 Division Headquarters AIF

Distinguished Service Order
Mention in Despatches

There is no service file for Wootten at the National Archives. He entered the Royal Military College at Duntroon in the first intake on 22 June 1911. He was a member of the guard of honour at the Canberra commencement ceremony on 12 March 1913 and graduated on 14 August 1914. He studied law after leaving the army, served in World War 2 as Commanding Officer of the 2/2 Battalion, February 1941, commanded the 18th Brigade in the Middle East including at the siege of Tobruk, then at Milne Bay in August 1942 and Buna and Sanananda in Papua in December 1942 to January 1943. He became commander of the 9th Division of the AIF in March 1943 leading them at Lae, Finschhafen and Sattelberg and in 1945 in the fighting at Borneo. He died at the Repatriation General Hospital at Concord in Sydney on 31 March 1970.

The recommendation for the Distinguished Service Order states that Wootten served with the 3rd Battalion in Gallipoli and France. He was appointed as Staff Captain to the 8th Brigade in Egypt. In November 1916 he was appointed as Brigade Major to the 11th Brigade (3rd Division AIF).

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
Chester Wilmot, 'Tobruk 1941', 1944 (pp. 181, 182)
Australian Dictionary of Biography online
http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/adbonline.htm
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial