It should be noted that war statistics are subject to
constant revision and numbers can vary year to year.
wars and warlike operations
Since the 1850s, when the Australian colonies became
self-governing ahead of Federation in 1901, Australians have served in at least
21 wars and warlike operations (Note: ‘Warlike operations’ is the modern term
for those operations qualifying for the Australian Active Service Medal. Date
ranges noted are for Australian warlike service within these conflicts).
North Taranaki War 1860–61
Victoria dispatched HMCSS Victoria to
New Zealand, with some of its sailors attached to the Imperial Naval Brigade.
Sudan War 1885
New South Wales dispatched a contingent of 758 men, who reached the Sudan just
as the war was winding up.
Boer War 1899–1902
The Australian colonies and, after Federation, the Commonwealth sent about
16,500 troops to South Africa.
Boxer Rebellion 1900–01
New South Wales and Victoria dispatched about 560 naval and military personnel
First World War 1914–18
About 416,809 enlisted, with about 340,000 (army and navy) serving overseas,
mostly in Europe or the Middle East.
Second World War 1939–45
Nearly one million served (about 560,000 overseas) in the Middle East, Europe,
Atlantic, Asia-Pacific, and Australia.
Malayan Emergency 1948–60
About 7,000 served, a few with British forces early on, then with a RAAF
deployment from 1950 and Army from 1955.
Korean War 1950–53
More than 17,000 served, with Australia the second country (after the US) to
commit to the defence of South Korea.
Thai-Malay Border (or Malay Peninsula) 1960–66
Several hundred troops patrolled the border area against insurgents during 1960–64, with RAAF
flights until 1966.
Vietnam War 1962–73 and 1975
About 50,000 served ‘in country’ and about 10,000 in logistic support during
A small group was involved in the emergency airlifts of 1975.
Confrontation (or Konfrontasi) 1963–66
About 3,500 served against Indonesian forces in southern Malaysia and its
Borneo states (Sabah and Sarawak), and Brunei.
Thailand (Ubon) 1965–68
A few hundred airmen and troops served in and around Ubon, north-east Thailand,
in a Vietnam War-related defence role.
More than 300 served with the UN Transition Assistance Group.
Gulf War (Kuwait) 1990–91
Nearly 1,800 (mostly naval) personnel served during the liberation of Kuwait,
after the Iraqi invasion of 1990.
About 600 served as UN peacekeepers in signals, mine clearance, policing
and support roles, and others in non-warlike periods.
Former Yugoslavia (Balkans) 1992–97
A small number, mostly on exchange with British forces, served in UN and NATO
forces; others later in non-warlike periods.
A small number served in UN units, and a further 1,500 served with the US-led
Unified Task Force during 1993.
More than 630 peacekeepers served during the two rotations classed as warlike;
others in non-warlike periods.
East Timor 1999–2003
More than 5,000 served in the Australian-led International Force East Timor and
later operations; others in non-warlike periods.
Currently, there are
approximately 400 ADF personnel in Afghanistan with an additional 650 in the
broader Middle-East Area of Operations on land and at sea. The Prime Minister
that approximately 35,000 Australians served in Afghanistan.
More than 20,000 personnel served in Iraq as part of
Australia’s contribution to the United States-led force.
Operation OKRA is Australia’s
contribution to the military action against the Daesh in Iraq. About
600 ADF personnel make up the Air Task
Group (ATG) and the Special
Operations Task Group (SOTG).
facts and figures is a compilation of statistics which includes:
- the number of enlistments in 1914, and per month for 1915 and
- information on the recruiting marches carried out between October
1915 and January 1916
- the number of Anzacs who served at Gallipoli and the number of
Australian casualties per month from April 1915 to January 1916 and
- the number of fatalities for each nation involved.
death rates: some comparisons’ contrasts the number of Australian prisoners
of war (POWs) in the First World War and the Second World War, the Korean War
and the Vietnam War. It also compares the death rates among the prisoners of
the Japanese from different allied nations.
The Australian War Memorial’s Australian military
statistics webpage has links to a number of statistical surveys of
Australia’s involvement in war and peacekeeping.
The Australian War Memorial’s information sheet, Australian
war casualties, is a tabular summary of casualties in all theatres of war,
derived from the Roll of Honour at the Memorial.
Determined to protect Australia’s interests by participating
in the Paris Peace Conference that concluded the First World War, the
Australian Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, claimed to speak for 60,000 war dead. He
could also have added that he represented 156,000 wounded, gassed or taken
prisoner out of a total of 416,809 enlisted men, according to the official
statistics recognised by the Australian War Memorial. A recent book, however,
questions these figures.
In Those We Forget: Recounting Australian Casualties of
the First World War, David Noonan arrives at a markedly different
casualty count. By utilising statistical samples, he calculates that while
only 379,000 men enlisted, and approximately 318,100 embarked for war, the
death toll sustained by the Australians was between 61,900 and 62,700. His
analysis also disputes the accepted number of wounded, suggesting that there
were between 208,100 and 209,100 Australian hospitalisations for wounds. Furthermore,
argues Noonan, if one considers post-war deaths attributable to service in the
conflict and includes those Australians who died while in the service of
foreign militaries and the merchant marines, the death toll rises by
approximately 10,000 men.
To date there has been a muted response to Noonan’s figures,
but his analysis illustrates that even a century after the start of the Great War,
it remains a conflict characterised by controversy.
Useful links for further
information on Australia’s military history
A list of Australian Victoria Cross recipients and
biographical information about them, can be found in the Parliamentary Library online
of Victoria Cross recipients by electorate, or on the website of the Anzac Day
Commemoration Committee of Queensland.
and Second World War Official Histories have been digitised and are
available on the website of the Australian War Memorial, as are a selection of Australian Army war diaries for both
world wars, the Korean War and South-East Asian conflicts.
Department of Veterans’ Affairs:
Commemorations pages and links to their other commemorative websites; the Australians
at War film archive—’designed to film and record the stories of over two
thousand war veterans as a permanent asset for posterity’; and the Australians at War
website—dedicated to those Australians who have served their nation during the
past one hundred years.
at War pages on the Australian War Memorial’s website have links to an
overview of Australian military history, information on military organisation
and structure, and an online encyclopaedia.
The three services have webpages devoted to their histories:
the Royal Australian Navy page
includes historical information, feature articles and the history of former
ships; the Australian Army has
a page which includes links to army history information and unit associations
and a traditions page; and the Royal
Australian Air Force has a page with links to the history of the RAAF.
is a website that provides an overview of the First World War.
1939–1945 provides an overview of key areas where Australians served during
the Second World War.
The website of the National Archives of Australia has links to
Roll of Honour
The Australian War Memorial maintains the Roll
of Honour which commemorates members of Australia’s armed forces who have
lost their lives in wars and warlike operations. A common misconception is
that the Roll of Honour is only for those killed in action. Names are, and
always have been, inscribed on the roll irrespective of the cause of death, be
it battle, illness, accident, captivity, or other causes.
There are currently 102,804 men and women recorded on the
roll. The following figures have been taken from the Australian War Memorial’s
information sheet, Australian
updates to the Roll of Honour occur every year on Remembrance Day, and as a
result the statistics above may not align with other sources of casualty
|| Number of deaths
|First World War
|Second World War
|Australia (North Queensland Coast, bomb and mine
|Japan (British Commonwealth Occupation Force)
|Papua and New Guinea
|Middle East (UNTSO; Operation Paladin)
|Kashmir (United Nations Military Observer Group in India
|Korean War (Post-Armistice service—ceasefire monitoring)
|Southeast Asia (SEATO)
|Irian Jaya Operation Cenderawasih)
|Western Sahara (MINURSO)
|East Timor (Operation Astute)
|Solomon Island (RAMSI—Operation Anode)
|Indonesia (Operation Sumatra Assist)
Other lists can be found below.
World War Nominal Roll—those who served overseas in the Australian Imperial
Second World War
Nominal Roll—an index of servicemen and women who served during the Second
M Lumb, Commonwealth
Members of Parliament who have served in war, Research brief, 10,
2006–07, Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2007 and its companion publication Commonwealth Members of Parliament who have served in war: Colonial
wars and the First World War, Research Paper, 2014–15.
A list of Australian Victoria Cross recipients can be found
in the Parliamentary Library online publication, Index
of Victoria Cross recipients by electorate, or on the website of the Anzac Day
Commemoration Committee of Queensland.
The most recent recipients of the Victoria Cross for
Australia are Corporal
Daniel Keighran and
Corporal Cameron Baird (who was killed during the action for which he won
the VC). Both men were serving in Afghanistan. Corporal Baird is the 100th
Australian to receive a Victoria Cross.
Books on ‘Anzac’
held in the Parliamentary Library
Members, Senators and Parliamentary staff may arrange to
borrow any of the following books:
A Staunton, Victoria Cross: Australia’s finest and the battles they fought, Hardie
Grant Books, Prahran, Victoria, 2005.
R Pelvin (ed.)
ANZAC: an illustrated history 1914–1918, Hardie Grant, South Yarra,
J Robertson, Anzac and Empire: the tragedy & glory of
Gallipoli, Hamlyn Australia, Port Melbourne, Victoria, 1990.
Day: past and present, compiled by Georgina Fitzpatrick, Australian
War Memorial, Education Service, Canberra, 1992.
S Braga, ANZAC doctor: the life of Sir Neville Howse, Australia’s
first VC, Hale & Iremonger, Alexandria, NSW, 2000.
A Thompson, Anzac memories: living with the legend, Oxford
University Press, Melbourne, 1994.
J Lack (ed.), Anzac
remembered: selected writings by KS Inglis, Parkville, Department
of History, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 1998.
J Williams ANZACS, the media and the Great War, UNSW
Press, Sydney, 1999.
J Moses and G Munro, Australia and the ‘Kaiser’s war’ 1914–1918: on understanding the ANZAC tradition:
argument & theses. Broughton Press, St Lucia, Qld, 1993.
R Reid, A ‘duty clear before us’: North Beach and the Sari Bair Range,
Gallipoli Peninsula: 25 April–20
December 1915, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Canberra, 2000.
G Seal (ed.), Echoes
of ANZAC: the voice of Australians at war, Lothian Books, South
G Seal, Inventing ANZAC: the Digger and national mythology,
University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Qld, 2004.
T Stephens, The last Anzacs: lest we forget, Fremantle
Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, WA, 2003.
P Stanley, Quinn’s Post, Anzac, Allen & Unwin,
Crows Nest, NSW,
T Frame, The shores of Gallipoli: naval aspects of the Anzac
campaign, Hale & Iremonger, Alexandria, NSW, 2000.
A Hill, Soldier boy: the true story of Jim Martin the youngest
Anzac, Penguin, Ringwood, Victoria, 2001.
M Tracey, The spirit of ANZAC, AGPS, Canberra,
A Thompson, Stragglers or shirkers: an ANZAC Imperial
controversy, Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, London,
P Thompson, Anzac fury, Random House Australia, North
J Hopkins-Weise, Blood brothers: the Anzac genesis, Wakefield
Press, Kent Town, 2009.
D Cameron, 25 April 1915: the day the Anzac legend was born, Allen
& Unwin, Crows Nest, 2007.
J Taylor, Last out: 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion’s second tour in
Vietnam, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2007.
R Prior, Gallipoli : the end of the myth, UNSW
Press, Sydney, 2009.
DW Cameron, ‘Sorry, lads, but
the order is to go’: the August offensive, Gallipoli 1915, University of
New South Wales Press, 2009.
M McKernan, Gallipoli: a
short history, Allen &Unwin, Sydney, 2010.
P Stanley, Bad characters:
sex, crime, mutiny, murder and the Australian Imperial Force, Pier9,
Millers Point, NSW, 2010.
P Hart, Gallipoli, Profile
Books, London, 2011.
I Sumner, Anzac infantrymen
1914–15: from New Guinea to Gallipoli, Osprey, Oxford, 2011.
P Cochrane, Simpson and his
donkey (new updated and revised edition), Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton,
P Scarlett, Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander volunteers for the AIF: the Indigenous response to
World War One, Indigenous Histories, Macquarie, ACT, 2013.
M Dapin (ed.), From
the trenches: the best ANZAC writing of World War One, Viking, Melbourne,
C Roberts, The
landing at Anzac: 1915, Big Sky Publishing, Sydney, 2013.
J Beaumont, Broken
nation: Australians in the Great War, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2013.
R Pelvin, ANZAC:
an illustrated history 1914–1918, Hardie Grant, South Yarra, 2014.
P Stanley, Lost
boys of Anzac, New South Publishing, Coogee, NSW, 2014.
J Brown, Anzac’s
long shadow: the cost of our national obsession, Redback, Collingwood,
P Burness, Australians
at the Great War 1914–18, Murdoch Books Australia, Crows
Nest, NSW, 2015.
H Broadbent, Defending
Gallipoli: the Turkish Story, Melbourne University Publishing, Carlton, Victoria,
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