Free Online Access to More than 12 Million Military Records
Free Online Access to More than 12 Million NZ & Australian Military Records to Mark Anzac Day Centenary
Ancestry will open up collections covering more than 100 years of military conflicts involving New Zealanders including the Crimean War, the NZ Land Wars, the Boer War, WWI and WWII
Auckland, New Zealand, 23 April, 2015 - To commemorate the upcoming ANZAC Day centenary, Ancestry, the world’s largest online family history resource, will open up its impressive collections of New Zealand and Australian military databases to New Zealanders free of charge.
This includes all of the site’s New Zealand and Australian military history collections, as well as UK military collections that contain information on Commonwealth soldiers. The records will be freely accessible from 02:01am NZST on Wednesday 22 April to 01:59am NZSTMonday 27 April 2015.
Ancestry offers researchers, amateur and professional alike, online access to an extensive collection of New Zealand military records. With more than 12 million individual military records pertaining to Kiwis and Aussies, this collection is a valuable resource to anyone wishing to find out more about their family history.
Apart from the purely military information – who enlisted where and when, who served in what capacity and what happened to them – many of the records show addresses, occupations and next of kin of the soldiers.
“The information in these military history records offers fascinating insight into New Zealand’s past, and the role New Zealanders played in some of the most significant military events from 1840 to 1945,” says Ben Mercer, Content Director at Ancestry “Over the ANZAC Centenary this weekend, these records could help you discover the stories of the ANZAC heroes in your own family tree.”
The military collections that will be free to access during this period include:
Ancestry.com’s New Zealand Military Collections
New Zealand, Roll of Honour, 1840-1903
New Zealand Army Medal Rolls, 1860-1919
New Zealand Army WWI Nominal Rolls, 1914-1918
New Zealand Army WWI Casualty Lists, 1914-1919
New Zealand Army WWI Roll of Honour, 1914-1919
New Zealand Expeditionary Force Record of Personal Service, 1914-1918
Chronicles of the N.Z.E.F., 1916-1919
New Zealand Army WWI Reserve Rolls, 1916-1917
New Zealand WWI Military Defaulters, 1919-1921
New Zealand Army WWII Nominal Rolls, 1939-1948
New Zealand, World War II Appointments, Promotions, Transfers and Resignations, 1939-1945
New Zealand, World War II Ballot Lists, 1940-1945
Ancestry’s Australian Military Collections
ANZAC Memorial, 1914-1918
Australia, WWI Service Records, 1914-1920
Australian Imperial Force Burials at Gallipoli, 1915
New South Wales, Australia, Cowra Military Camps Personnel Photo Index, 1905-1970
The records will be freely accessible from 02:01am NZST on Wednesday 22 April to 01:59am NZST Monday 27 April 2015 atAncestry.com.au/anzac100
ENDS