The Archives' Hobart office holds a significant collection of material relating to military activity in the island state of Tasmania. Most of the records were created by the Australian Army and its colonial period predecessors, although some Navy and Air Force records are also held. The records date from the late nineteenth century onwards and cover all aspects of military activity in Tasmania.
Subjects covered by the records include:
The records are held in a range of formats including correspondence files, registers, letter books, nominal rolls, annual returns, order books, photographs and index cards.
A number of record series cover military personnel in Tasmania. These include personal history files, Army pay and National Service trainee pay files and ledger cards, war gratuity registers, roll books and officers' service records. These records are of particular value to family historians. Some examples of record series dealing with military personnel are shown below.
Records held for military units include:
Military establishments covered include:
There are also records relating to the development of coastal fortifications that were maintained around Hobart and its approaches including the gun battery sites of Alexander Bluff, Fort Pierson and Mount Nelson.
Other records held include information about the following military-related subjects:
In general records are available once they are more than 30 years old, though some information may be withheld for longer periods if it relates to national security matters or to the personal affairs of people who are still living.
Records described in this fact sheet are available for public examination in the reading room of our Tasmanian office.
Records may be examined in original and in some cases in microcopy format. Photocopies and microform printer copies of the records can be purchased.
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. Comments or other feedback can be sent to archives@naa.gov.au updated August 2000
