The National Library of Australia has extensive holdings of material concerning Australia's involvement in the First World War.  These cover all formats, including:

  • printed works
  • newspapers
  • manuscripts
  • pictorial
  • oral history
  • realia
  • online

This guide aims to introduce researchers to key collections and items, as well as advise of where related material may be found that is not held by the National Library. 

Catalogue search tips

Use the Catalogue standard search to find titles, authors or subjects.

  • If you get too many results, use the options under 'Narrow search' on the right of the results page to display only the items you're interested in.
  • To see what you can view from home, use the link to 'NLA digital material' on the right of the results page.
  • If you need to widen your search, click on the subject headings in an item's Catalogue record to find other material related to that subject.

Although you can't browse the Library's shelves in person, you can use the Catalogue to browse by title, author, subject or Dewey number.

To search for general works about the First World War, select the Browse alphabetically tab, then subjects.  Types of subjects can include the names of campaigns and individuals.  Some examples are:

In addition to browsing you can use different search terms alone or combined to identify a wide variety or location-specific items. The following are some examples that can be used:

  • 'diggers'
  • 'first world war'
  • 'great war'
  • 'australian soldiers world war I'
  • 'soldier settlers'
  • 'conscription world war I'
  • 'indigenous anzacs'