Our resources can help you find out about your family member’s service history.

The National Library of Australia has extensive holdings of material concerning Australia's involvement in the First World War.

Follow the story of Lorenzo Gamboa and his fight to return to his Australian-born wife and children after his deportation in 1946. 

Dr Tets Kimura presented a lecture on his 2023 National Library Fellowship research into how grief was experienced during the Asia-Pacific War in two different nations, Australia and Japan, and how it is identifiable in art and fashion.

Personal papers and about 600 books and pamphlets from 1900-1960 on international relations, political biography, migration and more with a focus on the Commonwealth and United States. 

Books, pamphlets, photographs, posters and a small number of maps relating to war and aviation.

Over 10,000 black and white negatives and colour transparencies, about 1000 exhibition prints, several photograph albums, a group of stereographs, plus maps, diaries and personal papers.

Module

This resource is aligned with the Australian Curriculum: History for Year 10 students. It engages students with a rich selection of sources and challenges them to draw their own conclusions about World War 2. Using the lens of internment, this resource looks at home front human stories, impacts of war and genocide, migration and multiculturalism.

Take a look at some of the letters sent from overseas to friends and family back in Australia during the First and Second World Wars.

About 200 American books and a smaller number on the French Revolution and Napoleon, plus 15 letters by 18th- and 19th-century scientists and physicians.

On the 80th anniversary of the Second World War ending, explore stories of the conflict from our collections.

About 2600 books, mostly in Japanese including military works, biographies of the Japanese Royal Family and leading figures in Japan and Western countries, Chinese and Japanese classics and more.