Memorial research centre unlocks precious war records

People who want to learn more about their family's service in the Australia military will have easier access to priceless records at a new research centre at the Australian War Memorial.

The Charles Bean Research Centre, named after the nation's first official war correspondent and founder of the memorial, was opened in Canberra on Thursday.

It is the only building at the memorial that carries the name of an individual.

His granddaughter Anne Carroll helped open the centre, and described the moment as "rewarding and humbling".

"To have his name on this building is a thrill and an endorsement of his work and his role in preserving their records," she said.

Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said visitors will be able to sit down with the centre's volunteers who can help them access diaries and service records of loved ones.

"They will explain to them (visitors) in amazing detail, the nature of that service," he said.

"Hopefully, at the end of the day, they'll stay, they'll attend the last post ceremony that night, and they'll lay a wreath in honour of their forebears or their sons or their daughters, or mums or dads."

Examining Charles Bean's notebooks with Ms Carroll, Veterans' Affairs Minister Matt Keogh was surprised by the memorial with his own family history.

Records showed two of Mr Keogh's great-uncles were killed during the Second World War.

George Geoffrey Keogh was killed at El Alamein in Egypt, while Lawrence Colin Keogh was killed in Crete, Greece.

"Being able to be shown the records ... was particularly moving for me," Mr Keogh said.

"I'll certainly take that back to my family, to my dad, and to be able to give that greater explanation of what happened."

Mr Keogh said for millions of Australians who will never have the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of relatives who served or died in overseas conflicts, the centre will provide a more "fulsome expression" of them.

"This centre will provide that opportunity, with names on a wall, to become real for individuals," he said.

Asked if the opening of the research centre fulfilled the vision of Charles Bean, Ms Carroll said: "As long as it fulfils its function of encouraging people to learn."

The memorial's half-a-billion dollar expansion has courted controversy, with criticism directed towards the scale of the development.