The National Archives' holdings include records containing information about members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) who served as crew aboard RAN ships. To use these records effectively you will need to know the name of the vessel and the approximate period of service of the individual.
The best available source for crew details is the ships ledgers, which are held in Canberra in the record seriesA4624. The series ranges from 1912 to 1956. The Navy ceased to record crew information in this way after 1956.
The ledgers were completed quarterly for each ship (or shore establishment) and contain the following information for each crew member:
The ledgers for each ship have been bound as volumes for each quarter (ie three month period) the ship was on active service, and this is reflected in the title for each volume (eg HMAS Rushcutter, quarter ended 30/6/1941). On some occasions groups of vessels have been recorded together as one ledger. These generally involve requisitioned vessels, and the ledger, referred to as a tender, is recorded under the name of the parent vessel or establishment. Tenders often include individual crew lists for each vessel.
References to many of the ledgers have been added to the Archives' item-level database, part ofRecordSearch, which is available online in all National Archives' reading rooms. You can usually identify these by conducting a series search for 'A4624' and choosing to narrow the search by keyword using the ship's name. Reference staff can assist you in using the database and can assist in locating particular ledgers if your searches using the Archives database are unsuccessful. Note that ledgers for the period 1950–1956, which are available for use, have not all been individually added to the Archives' database at an item level.
An additional source of information on crew members to the rank of Petty Officer and below is provided in the table below.
 | Punishment returns, HMA ships | 1912–59 | A7111 | ||
There are a number of sources of information on RAN ships held by offices of the Archives and the Australian War Memorial. These sources include the logs and reports of proceedings, which record the voyages undertaken by vessels and any incidents occurring on board during tours of duty. They also include records documenting the design, construction and maintenance of vessels.
| (Canberra) Ships drawings and specifications | 1870–1957 | MP551/1 | ||
| (Canberra) HMA ships books and supplements | 1911–ongoing | A4141 | ||
| (Sydney) Log books of HM Colonial (HMC), HM, and HMA ships | 1870–1957 | SP551/1 | ||
| (Melbourne) Reports of proceedings, HMA ships | 1924–39 | B4883 | ||
| (Australian War Memorial, Canberra) HMA ships logs (mainly 1914–1918 period) | 1905–54 | AWM35 | ||
| (Australian War Memorial, Canberra) Reports of proceedings, HMA ships | 1939–92 | AWM78 | ||
While most records relating to crew and ships that are more than thirty years old are open for public access, some of the crew records referred to above may have restrictions to protect sensitive personal information contained in them. In these cases the restricted information can usually be masked allowing the remainder of the record to be made available.
You can obtain more information about the record series listed above (and the items within the series) fromRecordSearch, the Archives database. Follow the links in the series lists to go directly to information on that series. You can also use RecordSearch to find out about the agencies that created the records and to locate more records on your subject. You might also explore PhotoSearch to find out if there are photos pertaining to your subject.
RecordSearch and PhotoSearch are available online or in all Archives reading rooms. Reference staff are available in the reading rooms to help you, or email ref@naa.gov.au.
Contact information for offices of the Archives is included in Fact Sheet 1 – Addresses and hours of opening. Details for the Australian War Memorial are in Fact Sheet 2 – Addresses of other archival institutions.
Further information about holdings of RAN personnel records is included in Fact Sheet 30 – Navy service records (general holdings) and Fact Sheet 138 – Navy service records held in Melbourne.
Comments or other feedback can be sent to archives@naa.gov.au
updated December 2004