Australian Red Cross National Archives, Melbourne

Australian Red Cross National Archives, Melbourne

• Australian Red Cross Heritage Archives

• Community

The Australian Branch of the British Red Cross Society was formed in 1914 at the outbreak of First World War.

Officer-in-charge: Archivist

The focus of the Australian Red Cross Archives is on the records of the organisation from its foundation in 1914 to the present.
Red Cross National and Victorian office records up to the year 2000 (approximately 400 shelf metres) have been transferred to the University of Melbourne Archives.

The collection includes annual reports, minutes, World War II Prisoner of War index cards and a range of Australian Red Cross publications and correspondence files, uniforms, quilts, flags, photographs, posters, and memorabilia.

Records at the University of Melbourne Archives are described at item level and finding aids are available through the online catalogue https://archives.unimelb.edu.au/explore/collections/Australian-Red-Cross

Records transferred to the University of Melbourne Archives can be accessed through the Reading Room, Baillieu Library at the University's Parkville campus. Please visit the Reading Room website for information on ordering and accessing material.

For records not yet transferred, researchers are welcome to contact the Red Cross Archivist to arrange a visit to conduct their own research.

For National and Victorian offices records transferred to the University of Melbourne Archives, see that Archives.
In South Australia records are held at the State Library of South Australia, and in New South Wales at the State Library of New South Wales. In other states similar transfers are being arranged with appropriate repositories.
For Australian Red Cross files relating the World War I transferred to the Australian War Memorial (general correspondence and administration files; records of the Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau and of the Australian Red Cross Prisoner of War Department, 1DRL/0428 - 116.8 shelf metres), see the Memorial.

For those unable to attend for their own research, Australian Red Cross Archives staff may be able to complete a basic service in reply to queries.

Revised 11 October 2021

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