Researching Family History

The Memorial's collections and website contain a wealth of material which can help you research the service and wartime experiences of relatives who served in Australia's military forces during conflict.

Getting started

Gather together what you already know about the person you are researching. For example:

• Who are you researching?
• What do you know about them?
• What do you know about their service?

What other details can you find? You can

• Ask family members what they know
• See if the family has any wartime memorabilia that may include information
• Investigate local sources such as a library or historical society

Research guides

The following guides will help with your research.

Researching Australian military service

• Researching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander military service
• Researching names on an honour board
• Local information sources about Australians at war
• New Zealand, 1860
• Sudan, 1885
• South African War (Boer War), 1899-1902
• First World War, 1914-1918
• Second World War, 1939-1945
• British Commonwealth Occupation Force, 1945-1952
• Malayan Emergency, 1950-1960
• Korean War, 1950-1953
• Indonesian Confrontation, 1963-1966
• Vietnam War, 1962-1975
• Peacekeeping
• First Gulf War, 1990-1991
• East Timor, 1999-2003
• Afghanistan, 2001-
• Iraq, 2003-2009

Personal service records (dossiers)

Personal service records are files created for individuals during their military careers. Service records are held in the country of the force with whom your individual served, for example, Royal Australian Air Force records are held in Australia and Royal Air Force records are held in the United Kingdom.

• Personal service records: Australian service
• Personal service records: countries other than Australia

Medals

• Military honours and awards to Australians
• Campaign and service medals

Prisoners of War and civilian internees

• First World War: Australian prisoners of war
• Second World War: Australian prisoners of war in Europe
• Second World War: Australian prisoners of the Japanese
• Civilian internees in Australia

Unit histories

• Researching the history of a unit

Maps

• Finding First World War maps: Gallipoli
• Finding First World War maps: Western Front
• Reading map references: First World War, Western Front

Guide to recording oral histories

Oral histories can be a valuable resource for personal use, interest or reference. The Memorial receives many nominations for oral history interview, and it is not possible to meet every request. The Memorial has created this guide as a way to help people to conduct interviews with veterans.