Sir George Frederick Wootten, was a senior Australian Army officer, public servant, right wing political activist and solicitor. He rose to the rank of temporary major general during the Second World War. Wootten earned the respect of his soldiers and superiors; General Douglas MacArthur described him as "the best soldier in the Australian Army who had it in him to reach the highest position". He was famous, in part, for his heavy build; he had given up smoking in 1930, and by 1941—even though he was 175 cm tall—he weighed 127 kg.
Early life
Wootten was born on 1 May 1893 in Marrickville, Sydney, Australia. He was the seventh child of English, London-born migrant parents, William Frederick Wootten and Louisa Wootten, née Old. George Wootten attended Fort Street Model School in Sydney. He entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1911, and graduated in August 1914 as a lieutenant.
Wootten married Muriel Frances Anna Bisgood, a nurse, at St Joseph's Catholic Church, Roehampton, London, on 3 January 1920. Wootten was posted back to Australia that same year. He resigned his commission in 1923, and moved back to London, where he worked as manager of a clothing factory. Wootten returned to New South Wales in 1926 and became an articled clerk at West Wyalong. He was also recruited by a secret, quasi-official militia organisation, the Old Guard, which had been formed in response to fears of a supposed communist revolutionary threat. Wootten was admitted as a solicitor in July 1930, by which time he had four children. In 1931 he became an organiser for the Old Guard in Sydney and after retiring from the army, was one of its handful of full-time staff. , France, 16 December 1917. Major George Wootten DSO at the time a staff officer with the 5th Division. Wootten joined the Citizen Military Forces and on 1 July 1937—as a lieutenant colonel—was appointed commander of the 21st Light Horse Regiment.
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, on 13 October 1939, Wootten was seconded to the Second Australian Imperial Force, and from 24 October 1939 until 9 February 1940 he commanded the 2/2nd Infantry Battalion. He then served as acting commander of the 16th Infantry Brigade until 20 May 1940. I Corps was attached to the British Middle East Command, and when an AIF Reinforcement Depot was set up in Palestine, in late 1940, Wootten was promoted to temporary brigadier and made its commander. Wootten was promoted to brigadier, and from 1 February 1941, he commanded the 18th Infantry Brigade, on active service in the North African campaign, including the siege of Tobruk. Following the outbreak of war with Japan, the 7th Division returned to Australia and the 18th Brigade was part of the historic victory over Japanese forces at Milne Bay. This was followed by the fierce and costly fighting at Buna and Sanananda. On 15 March 1943, Wootten was promoted to temporary major general and became General Officer Commanding, 9th Australian Infantry Division. Between September that year and January 1944 he led the 9th Division in the Battle of Lae and the Huon Peninsula campaign. After a year of leave, consolidation, and re-training in Australia, the 9th took part in the Borneo campaign, including Operation Oboe Six, the amphibious landings at Brunei and Labuan. Wootten's nephew, Driver Evans, was a prisoner of war in Borneo who took part in one of the Sandakan death marches, and was killed at Ranau. Following the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Wootten commanded the British Borneo Civil Affairs Unit, overseeing the recuperation and repatriation of Allied prisoners, surrendered Japanese personnel, and the transition back to civilian rule. Wootten returned to Sydney on 22 September, and transferred to the Reserve of Officers on 14 October. However, he was soon appointed to a military court of inquiry into Major General Gordon Bennett's departure from Singapore in 1942. In 1945–58, Wootten chaired the Repatriation Commission, in Melbourne. He commanded the 3rd Division, in 1947–50 and was the CMF member of the Military Board in 1948–50. After retiring from the commission in 1958, he returned to Sydney. Wootten died at the Repatriation General Hospital, Concord in 1970. He is buried beside his wife at the Macquarie Park Cemetery, Lane Cove, northern Sydney.
