Irish Anzacs Project

The Irish Anzacs Project began in 2011 as a research undertaking by Dr Jeff Kildea of the Global Irish Studies Centre at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), made possible by a grant in 2012 from the Irish government’s Emigrant Support Program administered by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The aim of the Irish Anzacs Project was and is to identify all the Irish-born men and women who served in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) during the First World War and to compile a publicly accessible database containing information on each of them. The database provides families with information on their Irish-born family members who served in the AIF in the war as well as providing statistical information to assist researchers understand the contribution of the Irish to the Australian war effort.

The information in the database has been extracted from the service records held by the National Archives of Australia (NAA), and includes the following details: name, town and county of birth, religion, occupation, marital status, next of kin location, date and state of enlistment, declared age, the unit to which initially posted, and the soldier’s fate and the date thereof. In addition, information has been added from sources maintained by the Australian War Memorial (AWM) such as the Roll of Honour (which records those who were killed or died as a result of their war service), the Embarkation Roll, the list of Honours and Awards, and the Australian Red Cross’s files relating to wounded and missing soldiers and prisoners of war. Links to NAA and AWM websites enable searchers to view the original records of the Irish Anzacs they are researching. Ultimately the database will provide for each Irish-born soldier and nurse a comprehensive record of their service in the AIF.

The database was launched in October 2014 simultaneously by video link in Ireland and Australia by the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan TD at University College Dublin and the Irish Ambassador to Australia Noel White at UNSW. The database was originally hosted by the UNSW Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Repository (FASS Repository), which was disbanded in July 2020. Attempts to find an alternative institutional host have been unsuccessful. Hence the decision to set up this website to provide access to the database as well as to general information on the Irish Anzacs and on the relationship between Australia and Ireland during the First World War.