Grace Baliviera on WWI records in the National Archives of Australia
'The NAA collection is invaluable because it explains how we have become the Australia of today.'
– Grace Baliviera
About this video
Hear Grace Baliviera talk about the types of WWI records held at the National Archives of Australia (NAA), which holds more than 40 million items relating to government activities since Federation.
Grace explains that defence was one of the first functions of the newly created Federal Government in 1901. Defence documents deemed worthy of permanent retention by the NAA include files, plans, films, sound recordings, digital records, photos and videotapes.
WWI service records held at NAA include those for the navy, the Australian Flying Corps (later the RAAF) and the Australian Army Nursing Service as well as those of non-combatants including historians, artists and chaplains.
Grace outlines which records can be found at NAA and how to find them using NAA's public database record search. She also discusses the Discovering Anzacs website as a valuable resource for historians looking for archival information about the men and women who served in WWI and the Boer War.
Hear more from Family History Feast 2015
- Don Grant Lecture: Bruce Scates on WWI repatriation records
- Steven Kafkarisos on the Library's WWI collection
- David Holloway on the 4th Light Horse Regiment
- Daniel Wilksch on soldier settlement in Victoria
- Kirsty Harris on finding information about Australian nurses in WWI
Speakers
Grace Baliviera is a reference officer at the National Archives of Australia.