The cemetery dates from when Ramleh (now Ramla) was occupied by the 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade on 1 November 1917. Field Ambulances, and later Casualty Clearing Stations, were posted at Ramleh and Lydda from December 1917 onwards. The cemetery was begun by the medical units, but some graves were brought in later from the battlefields and from Latron, Sarona and Wilhema Military and Indian Cemeteries. The original war cemetery was designed by Sir John J. Burnet, but following the addition of 1939-45 war graves, the site was extensively remodelled in the 1950s by Alan Stewart, ARIBA.