The National Archives of Australia and Ancestry.com have collaborated to digitise 95,000 First World War records, preserving them for the future.
The project digitised a series of records for individuals who applied to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), and were either rejected, discharged while still in training, or went on to serve within Australia only.
Individuals, especially young men, who did not enlist were often stigmatised for failing to 'do their bit', with the infamous white feather presented to many to symbolise their perceived cowardice. Yet many of these individuals tried to enlist only to be rejected. Their stories are often left untold.
Many of those rejected were sent home on medical grounds, even though many appeared physically fit. Examples of reasons for a person's rejection include : poor hearing or eyesight, insufficient chest measurement, issues with feet including poor veins or hammer toes, alcoholism, and poorly healed injuries such as a previously broken arm which had healed crooked. Others tried to enlist over or under age and were sent home when their deception was discovered.
Rebecca Britt, National Archives Director of Digitisation Services said the partnership allowed for a sharing of knowledge and resources to ensure records were digitised to a world-class standard.
‘We welcomed Ancestry.com staff to our East Burwood, Victoria repository to support the project, and alongside National Archives staff, the Ancestry.com team digitised the records. This meant that the records never left the repository, ensuring security and best practice for the project.’
This series of records now joins more than
376,000 First Australian Imperial Force service records which have
already been fully digitised. All these records are accessible to the public via The National Archives of Australia's free RecordSearch site and through the Ancestry.com family history platform.
No comments:
Post a Comment