Australia Military Records

Research your Australian military ancestor with these online databases and offline sources for Australians in the Army, including Imperial Forces (1788-1870), Local Colonial Forces (1854-1901) and Commonwealth Military Forces (1901 to present), as well as the Australian Navy.

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Australian War Memorial

The Australian War Memorial includes a number of biographical databases for researching Australians who served in the armed forces including biographies, honours and awards, remembrance books, nominal rolls and POW rosters, as well as a wealth of other historical information.

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World War I Service Records

The National Archives of Australia maintains records of Australian service men and women who served in the Australian army in World War I. 376,000 of these service records have been digitized and are available online.

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World War II Service Records

The National Archives of Australia is the depository for WWII service records, including Second Australian Imperial Forces personnel dossiers, Citizen Military Forces personnel dossiers and Lists of Army personnel. There is an online searchable database to these records and online digital copies of the records are available for a fee.

How to Trace Your U.S. Military Ancestors

By Kimberly Powell

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World War II Nominal Roll

Search by name, service number, honors or place of birth, enlistment or residence to find information from the service records of about one million individuals who served in the Australian defence forces and Merchant Navy during World War II (3 Sept 1939 to 2 Sept 1945). This free searchable database includes about 50,600 members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), 845,000 from the Australian Army, and 218,300 members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as well as approximately 3,500 merchant mariners.

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Korean War Nominal Roll

The Nominal Roll of Australian Veterans of the Korean War honors and commemorates the men and women who served in the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force in Korea, or in the waters adjacent to Korea, during the conflict and after the ceasefire, between 27 June 1950 and 19 April 1956. This free database includes details taken from the service records of more than 18,000 Australians who served during the Korean War.

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Vietnam Nominal Roll

Search for information on approximately 61,000 men and women who served in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Vietnam, or in the waters adjacent to Vietnam, during the conflict between 23 May 1962 and 29 Apr 1975. The Web site also contains the names of more than 1600 Australian civilians who were awarded or eligible to receive the Vietnam Logistics and Support Medal (VLSM).

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Graves and Memorials of Australians in the Boer War 1899-1902

Members of The Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra maintain this excellent site for family historians researching the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. Features include a searchable database of information from Australian Boer War memorials.

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Debt of Honour Register

Personal and service details and places of commemoration for the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces (including Australians) who died in the First or Second World Wars, as well as a record of some 60,000 civilian casualties of the Second World War provided without details of burial location.

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Digger History: Unofficial History of the Australian & New Zealand Armed Forces

Explore over 6,000 pages related to the history of the Australian and New Zealand Armed Forces including databases, photographs, histories and a great deal of background information on uniforms, weapons, equipment, food and other great historical detail.

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Australian ANZACS in the Great War 1914-1918

Free, online searchable database for more than 330,000 men and women who embarked from Australia for service overseas in the (First) Australian Imperial Force with information taken from embarkation rolls, the nominal roll, details of military decorations and/or promotions, Roll of Honour circulars, personal dossiers and post war deaths recorded through the Office of War Graves or by individual submissions.

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Powell, Kimberly. "Australia Military Records." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/australia-military-records-1421656. Powell, Kimberly. (2020, August 27). Australia Military Records. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/australia-military-records-1421656 Powell, Kimberly. "Australia Military Records." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/australia-military-records-1421656 (accessed April 25, 2024).