Dating military men australia
15-Aug-2020 13:20
Before 1901 each colony maintained its own military forces.The records of people who served in these forces will be found in the appropriate state archive.You will have to enquire at the relevant Archives about how you can search.A number of these men did not immediately return to Australia following their tour of duty, and enlisted in local South African units such as the Bushveldt Carrabineers.Yes, we do need to state the obvious, if your ancestor served in the Navy or Air Force; you are seeking advice from the wrong site.However, remember that in the First World War the Australian Flying Corps, which flew fighter, bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, was part of the Army.Until 1870, British Infantry Regiments garrisoned the Australian colonies.Even after that date, specialists, such as Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers supported the colonial forces.
There was the Second AIF, volunteers for service world wide.Go to the National Archives web site and click on Record Search which is carefully hidden at the top right of the page, above the pictures. Once in Record Search, use the person's name, in the order Surname, Given Names (eg Smith, John Frederick) as key words. A Second AIF was raised, but the training of the Militia could not be ignored, due to the still latent threat from Japan.The Service Number, if know, can be included as a discriminator. Militia Army numbers had a prefix indicating the state of enlistment (Q for Queensland, V for Victoria etc).The records of those who served in colonial contingents (Queensland Mounted Infantry, Victorian Mounted Rifles, NSW Lancers, various drafts of Imperial Bushmen etc) should be located in the relevant State Archives.
You may find that personal files, in the post 1914 sense, were not kept in colonial military forces.
When a force was required to deploy overseas, in 1914 and again in 1939, a special force known as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), liable for service anywhere in the world, was raised by voluntary enlistment for the duration of the war. When another force was raised in 1939 it was called the Second AIF, with the original force then becoming the First AIF.