Service Records - Family Research

Image: Nurses of the 2/5th AGH on parade in Palestine, awaiting inspection by their matron.

Most First World War AIF records are available online to view and download for free at the National Archives of Australia website (www.naa.gov.au). These records are held in the B2455 series. Records can be searched by name (which can be a tedious process if the name is a common one), and NAA offers a ‘Name Search’ tool which can cut down the number of hits and make a search quicker and easier.

All Royal Australian Navy Service Record cards from 1911 to 1970 (when the RAN moved to electronic data keeping) have been digitized and are also available to view and download for free from the NAA. First World War related records are in the A6769 (officers) and A6770 (ratings) series. Again, the ‘Name Search’ tool can make a search quicker and easier.

Hints:

• Although NAA states that ‘All World War I service records (series B2455) have been digitised and are available to view online’, this is not entirely true. In the case of members of the AIF who re-enlisted for service in the Second World War, NAA has ‘merged’ the files and the resulting file is not always online. An e-mail to NAA pointing out that you are interested in the First World War section of the file will normally result in NAA placing the file online free of charge.
• RAN ‘service cards’ are exactly that, two-sided cards with a man’s entire service career crammed onto the front and back of the card. The  amount of information available can be imagined (although there are rare instances of men having such long service that an additional card had to be stapled or pinned to the first card to allow more room).
• The regimental number for an enlisted member of the AIF and the official number for a rating of the RAN (neither the AIF nor the RAN allotted service numbers to officers during the First World War) is useful but not critical.

Everyone has a story to tell. Yours could be on the next page.

Graham Wilson,

About Graham :

Graham served 26 years in the Australian Regular Army, retiring in 1996 as a Warrant Officer Intelligence Analyst. Following five years as a civilian intelligence officer in the Department of Defence, he transferred to the Defence Department’s Directorate of Honours and Awards where he worked for 10 years in the support and policy areas; the latter as Staff Officer Historical Research. Graham retired from the Public Service in February 2011 and now works as a historian. Graham is active in a number of historical and militaria societies and is a prolific author of historical articles; he has been published in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA and has received a number of awards for military history writing. He has published two books, 'Bully Beef and Balderdash' and 'Dust Donkeys and Delusions'. His latest book due for release shortly.