Military/Service records

With the centenary of the First World War approaching, there has been a lot of interest in military and service records of family members. Below are some useful sites for locating military records and other information about Australians who served in military conflicts and records of British soldiers in Australia in the early days of settlement.

• AIF Project - provide details on the 330,000 men and women who served overseas in the (First) Australian Imperial Force, 1914-1918.
• The Australian National Archives has put all Australian First World War Service Records on line, and many World War 2 are also now becoming available
• World War II Nominal Roll - provide brief details of WW2 service personnel.
• Nominal Roll of Australian Veterans of the Korean War - provides information from the service records of individuals who served during the Korean War
• Australian War Memorial - provides biographical databases such as nominal commemorative and honour rolls, honours and awards, Australian Army war diaries, wounded missing and prisoner of war files and general information about Australian involvement in overseas conflict and peacekeeping.
• Mapping our Anzacs - investigate Australian WW1 service personnel by locality of birth or enlistment
• Debt of honour register (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) - lists details of men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars and Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action in the Second World War
• Australian War Graves in South Africa 1899 - 1902 - a searchable database of information from Australian Boer War memorials
• Oz-Boer database
• Soldiers and marines index 1787-1830
• Australia's redcoat settlers
• Military Historical Society of Australia
• Digger History - an unofficial history of the Australian & New Zealand Armed Services

Anzac Day

Findmypast has just created an Anzac Memory Bank in the lead up to Anzac Day to remember men and women that went to war. The Anzac Memory Bank is designed to help people build their own family wartime memories. It contains heroic stories, photos and expert information about Australian and New Zealand involvement in all wars and conflicts around the world. People have shared their own personal and stories, photos and diary entries so others can learn what it was like to live through these times of turmoil. In the week leading up to Anzac Day, Monday 22 to Friday 26 April, FindMyPast.com will provide free access to its entire military collection for people to research their ancestors' military history.