Thanks the the power of social media, I recently found out about the ‘Australian WWI Records Finder‘, which comes from the creative mind of Tim Sherratt from Wragge Labs. Now the beauty of the Australian WWI Records Finder is that it searches the National Archives of Australia (NAA), the Australian War Memorial (AWM) and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) all with the one search.
Well to be a little more specific, it searches these specific records on those sites:
– service records held by the National Archives of Australia
– the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial
– the First World War Embarkation Roll at the Australian War Memorial
– the Red Cross Missing and Wounded files at the Australian War Memorial
– the Honours and Awards database at the Australian War Memorial
– the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database
So to save yourself some time, rather than having to go to each, why not use the Australian WWI Records Finder. It’s simple. There’s three boxes, the Surname box, the Other name box, and the Service Number box. Use one, two or all three when searching.
If you require further assistance using the Records Finder, you can find further instructions on Tim’s blog.
I have just read the article about Tim Sherratt’s WWI Record Finder and I am wrapped. I have spend a fair amount of time digging through the NAA and AWM website and in five minutes I have details about all my ancestors that served in WW1.
Thank you very much Tim, this has made my life a lot easier.
Richard
Excellent … glad that you’ve found it useful!
what a great idea, thank you
Looking for this soldier who fits in my family tree John Head 2896 Private B Coy 16Batt 4th Brigade Aust Imp Force Egypt Died 7 Aug 1916.
Hi Margaret, you can find John Head who was in the 48th Battalion’s records online (an digitised and viewable for free) on the National Archives of Australia website:
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=4749018&isAv=N . I hope this helps.
I would also check to see what the Australian War Memorial as well as the Commonwealth War Grave Commission, lists for him.