Researching Australian military
service: First World War, 1914-1918
Australian
War Memorial
https://www.awm.gov.au
How to search the Australian
War Memorial
https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search
Search various areas – All,
Military events, Units, Library, People, Articles and Collections
“People” search will bring up
further information about their embarkation and personal information.
Embarkation Roll.
Embarkation roll
includes:
·
Conflict,
Roll title – Battalion, Embarkation date, Embarkation port, Embarkation Ship
This lists personal information
that includes:
·
Regimental
number, Name, Rank, Age, Trade or calling, Married or single, Address, Next of
kin and address of next of kin, Religion, Date of joining, Rate of pay, Remarks
(sometimes)
Roll of Honour
Names
of over 103,000 members of the Australian armed forces who have died during or
as a result of warlike service, non-warlike service and certain peacetime
operations
Roll
of honour database at: https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search/people?roll=Roll%20of%20Honour
First World War Nominal Rolls
Search by Name, Service Number or Unit Name. There are filters on the
left hand side of the search screen. Example “Frew” or Service Number “3519”
or “3033”
Nominal roll information includes:
· Service number (Officers and
nursing sisters were not allocated service numbers), Final rank
·
Surname, first name (including
some but not all honours)
·
Unit of service at the time of
death or at the end of the war
·
Date of enlistment, Non-effective
entry (i.e. how that person became no longer effective, for example Returned to
Australia); also referred to as "fate". A blank indicates that the
person was still effective abroad at the time of compilation of the roll
·
Date of death or start date of
non-effect
AIF
Project
https://aif.adfa.edu.au/index.html
Contains a lot of information
about soldiers that served in WW1 – information is taken from various sources
and is a great overview of a soldier’s history of involvement in the war.
The AIF Project (Australian
Imperial Force) database is maintained and hosted at UNSW Canberra and has a
great searchable index, that lists name of soldier, place of residence and
regiment and contains a summary of the soldier’s involvement in the war,
including medals awarded and when they died and at what age they died. The
regiment link (in the records) also contains all the soldiers who also served
in that regiment.
There was a total of 331,781
soldiers in the AIF. These troops served overseas in Egypt, Palestine,
Mesopotamia, Great Britain, France, Belgium, and Gallipoli.
The term ANZAC was created with
the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, and stands for the Australian and
New Zealand Army Corps.
Example: Search for frew: then look at “Bertie frew” record – “3033” –
note: this information includes history of why he received his “military medal”.
National
Archives: World War I
http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/defence/service-records/army-wwi.aspx
Search and view original war
records related to personnel who fought in WW1 in the National Archives.
Discovering
Anzacs (discontinued) –
Search records via National Archives instead
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/NameSearch.aspx
Original records can include enlistment
documentations – with valuable information like age, address, occupation,
marital status (if there are any children), height, weight, “next of kin”,
colour of eyes & hair and complexion.
Example search “Frew” and look at example “Bertie Frew” and/or “frew 3519” which is Leslie George Frew
Commonwealth
War Graves
www.cwgc.org
This is main website for all CWGC cemeteries and burial
location details. Advanced search at:
Search will list information
about person including:
Service number, Regiment, Date of
death, Burial location, Country of Service and Additional information (That can
include next of kin info)
Find Records TAB – Find War Dead
https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-war-dead/
Example: search “FREW” – First Listed is: “Leslie George
Frew 3519”
Also find out Grave Registration
information and Headstone information about soldiers killed in the war. (These
are original scanned documents)
Images of World War I
Australian servicemen
Flick photographic collection from the National Archives of soldiers that
fought in WW1 titled “Bonds of Sacrifice”. Photos were donated to the National
Archives by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. Browse these photo’s of
serviceman.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/national-archives-of-australia/collections/72157628184430675/
Focus: Military ancestors – National Library of Australia
http://www.nla.gov.au/research-guides/family-history/military-ancestors
A list of online and onsite
resources related to military personnel held by the National Library of
Australia.
Notes for staff: It is possible
to get a library card from the National Library of Australia so you can access
some of their online genealogy databases.
To get a Nation Library of
Australia library card go to: https://www.nla.gov.au/getting-started/join-us
Trove
www.trove.nla.gov.au
In Trove you can search Australian
newspapers from 1803 – 1954.
Example search “Bertie Frew” refine by “newspapers &
gazettes” and filter (using facets) by state of “Victoria”. Show first record “FATALITIES AND ACCIDENTS. Driver Thrown from Jinker”.
South Australian Red Cross
Information Bureau
South Australian Red Cross
Information Bureau at: https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/
What is the South Australian Red Cross Information Bureau?
Records of the South Australian
Red Cross Information Bureau held in the collection of the State Library of
South Australia (SLSA). From 1916 until 1919, the South Australian Red Cross
Information Bureau (SARCIB) performed the service of undertaking research into
8,033 enquiries from family and friends of missing Australian Imperial Force
(AIF) personnel fighting in World War 1. The collection of documents was
donated to the State Library in 1919.
This includes letters of enquiry
from people in Australia about soldiers fighting overseas. Personal view in
these letters about the war.
Anzac Portal
www.anzacportal.dva.gov.au
Website contains information about
the war as well as a list of education and community web resources. Links to:
WW1 & WW2, Korean and Vietnam records.
Ancestry
website – military records
In Ancestry there is a section
called “Search Military” search for records in: Australia, World War
I Service Records, 1914-1920
Australian Military
Records on Ancestry Library Edition
- ·
Australia,
World War II Second Australian Imperial Forces and Citizen Military Forces
Service Records, 1939-1947
- ·
Australia,
Royal Australian Air Force Personnel Files, 1921-1948 Military
- ·
ANZAC
Memorial, 1914-1918
- ·
New
South Wales, Australia, Cowra Military Camp, Selected Personnel Photo Index,
1940-1947
- ·
Queensland,
Australia, World War I Soldier Portraits, 1914-1918
- ·
Australia,
World War I Service Records, 1914-1920
- ·
Australia,
World War II Military Service Records, 1939-1945
- ·
Web:
Australia, University of Sydney Biographical Information Including World War I,
1880-1980
- ·
Australia's
Fighting Sons of The Empire. Portraits and Biographies of Australians in the
Great War
