Holdings of Navy personnel records in the Melbourne office are relatively small when compared to the size of other collections of defence records held by the office. Additional records are held by the Archives' Canberra office, while others have been retained by the Department of Defence. See for Fact sheet 30 - Navy service records (general holdings) for details.
Record holdings
Records held in Melbourne date from Federation in 1901 until 1959 when the Navy Office was relocated to Canberra. Rather than being complete service dossiers, records of Naval personnel relate to particular aspects of service, such as appointments and postings, periods of leave, or honours received. Personal files of RAN Reserve officers and ratings are also held.
Navy personnel records held by Melbourne office
| Title or description of record | Date range | Series number |
|---|---|---|
| Navy correspondence files relating to personnel matters | 1911–21 | MT574/1 |
| Navy correspondence files relating to personnel matters | 1922 | MT574/2 |
| Correspondence files relating to naval personnel matters | 1923–50 | MT856/1 |
| Correspondence files relating to naval personnel matters | 1923–50 | MT1214/1 |
| Correspondence files relating to naval personnel matters | 1923–50 | MT1334/1 |
| Correspondence files relating to naval personnel matters | 1940-66 | MT1136/1 |
| Title or description of record | Date range | Series number |
|---|---|---|
| Personal files of senior reserve officers | 1914-50 | MP763/2 |
| Personal files of reserve officers and ratings | 1939-47 | MT905/1 |
| Personal files of reserve officers and ratings | 1923-50 | MT905/2 |
| Personal files of reserve officers and ratings | 1928-68 | MT1334/5 |
For more information
Finding records of interest
In order to identify individual record items from the series you should firstly check the RecordSearch database, which includes item level data, and is available on the Internet and online in all reading rooms. If this does not prove successful you will need to use the control records such as index cards and registers that were created with the records to identify records of interest. Several of the subject indexes to the Navy series above are available for use in the reading room of the Victorian Archives Centre.
Other record holdings relating to Naval personnel
Additional information about Navy personnel matters (such as conditions of service and industrial matters) is also found scattered throughout a number of the more general runs of administrative records known as 'correspondence files' or 'correspondence series'. Information about individual serving members may also be found on these files. Records identified as containing this type of information are indicated in Navy administrative records.