LOOK HISTORY IN THE EYE Public Record Office Victoria
Look history in the eye Public Record Office Victoria Š Copyright State Government of Victoria through Public Record Office Victoria 2019
Except for any logos, emblems, and trademarks, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia license, to the extent that it is protected by Copyright. Authorship of this work must be attributed to Public Record Office Victoria. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0/au/. Published on http://www.prov.vic.gov.au.
Cover image: Women of Service poster number 245 by Harold Freedman. PROV, VPRS 12903/P1, Item 665/11
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Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is the archive of the State of Victoria, Australia. We hold more than 100 kilometres of original public records dating from the 1830s right up to the present day. Our impressive collection encompasses records created or received by Victorian Government bodies including departments, courts, councils, statutory authorities, schools and hospitals. Some of the most popular records in our collection are immigration and shipping lists, criminal trial briefs and prisoner files, reports of royal commissions and boards of inquiry, wills, probates, correspondence and land files, building plans, petitions and photographs. These records hold stories of the key events and decisions that have shaped the State of Victoria. We collect and preserve public records that: • preserve evidence of past decisions and actions of the State • support transparency, openness and accountability • preserve a documented memory of the Government and people of Victoria • provide documentary evidence to support research and re-use • support individuals and communities to reconnect and preserve identity and memory, facilitating redress, recovery and reconciliation.
More specifically, we preserve records that provide evidence of: • the authority, establishment and structure of the Government • primary functions and programs • enduring rights and entitlements • significant impact on individuals • environmental management and change • significant contribution to community memory. Examples of the records in our collection can be found within the pages of this booklet. There are records and stories that may surprise or shock you, records of iconic people and records of great significance to all Victorians of the past, present and future. Look history in the eye with every flip of the page, and start your own research into the collection at prov.vic.gov.au today.
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Historic collections What better way to introduce our collection than to show you records related to people and events you already know! Amongst the 100 kilometres of records in our collection you will find some of the most historically significant, and famous, items in Australia. The Eureka Rebellion of 1854 was an historically significant rebellion of gold miners from Ballarat. Provoked by an unpopular licensing scheme, the rebellion resulted in trials that failed to convict anyone charged. Some historians believe Eureka shaped the defining values of Australia. We hold significant government records related to that historic event. We also hold more original records within our collection about nineteenth century bushranger Ned Kelly than any other archival institution in the world. The records document the murder of members of the Victorian Police at Stringybark Creek, the pursuit of the Kelly Gang and the capture, prosecution and execution of the infamous Ned. In 1891, seeking the vote for women, the Victorian suffragettes collected signatures of more than 30,000 Victorians on what is now called the Monster Petition, one of the largest documents ever presented in Parliament. Led by early women’s rights activists like Isabella Goldstein and her daughter Vida, the suffragettes spent six weeks traveling by train and foot collecting signatures from right across the state. Rolled like a giant scroll, the petition, while unsuccessful at that time, demonstrated the gathering determination to gain women’s voting rights and is now one of our most valuable collection items.
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The Bakery Hill poster produced by Henry Seekamp’s newspaper The Ballarat Times, was used against him as evidence in his trial over the Eureka rebellion. PROV, VPRS 3253/P0, Unit 851
Ned Kelly’s page in the Central Register of Male Prisoners.Penal and Gaols Branch, Chief Secretary’s Department, 1873. PROV, VPRS 515/P1, Volume 17, Item 17, No 10926
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The Monster Petition, signed by 30,000 Victorian women and tabled in the Legislative Assembly in 1891 requesting the right to vote. PROV, VPRS 3253/P0, Unit 851
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Early colonial records Records from as far back as 1830 reveal the stories of early colonial settlement in Victoria, including details of interactions with the first Aboriginal peoples and foreign settlers.
Separation of states Did you know Victoria and New South Wales were once part of the one state? It has been said that the reason for the split was the discovery of gold!
“Every nation is allowed to come into this colony – why not the Chinese? At first the government was very good to our petitioners but now it is going to be different,” the Ballarat Chinese community stated in the Ballarat Star, 14 August 1857. Taxes were eventually removed in 1862 and 1863.
“There is a notion that Governor La Trobe knew of the discovery of gold in Victoria and that he did not announce it because he did not want NSW to know,” Historian Catherine Andrews, told the ABC in 2015. “We were officially separated from NSW in 1851, and a few months later, guess what? We discover gold.”
“(The petitions) provide valuable insights into the grounds upon which the Chinese defended their rights, and themselves, as well as understandings of the impact that anti-Chinese legislation was having on their lives.” Anna Kyi in her 2009 Provenance article ‘The most determined, sustained diggers’ resistance campaign’.
A petition from the City of Melbourne was sent to the Queen in 1849 and by 1850 it was official, Victoria was now its own state. Elaborate parties and celebrations were held throughout Victoria. The 1849 petition and correspondence outlining plans for the festivities that followed are held in our collection of Inward Registered Correspondence.
Petitions can be found in our collection under the series entitled Original Papers Tabled in the Legislative Assembly, including many of the Chinese petitions from this period such as the Bendigo Chinese Storekeepers Petition against an immigration tax, 1856 (one of the pages is pictured here).
Petition for your rights 12 June 1855, four years into the Gold Rush, the Victorian Government introduced an Act for the Provision of Certain Immigrants which sought to restrict the number of Chinese diggers by placing a cap on those arriving by ship, and by charging a £10 arrival tax. The Chinese in Victoria protested the tax in two petitions – one known as the Bendigo Chinese Petition which had 5168 signatures, the other petition from Chinese immigrants in Victoria, which garnered 3089 signatures. These petitions didn’t result in immediate changes, so the Chinese found ways to protest through evading the taxes, for instance by arriving in South Australia and traveling to the Victorian goldfields overland. In response the Victorian Government urged New South Wales and South Australia to also impose taxes, while Victoria introduced a Chinese residence tax and various other fees. The 1857, 1858 and 1859 Chinese petitions followed. 8
Left: A petition sent to the Queen by the City Council of Melbourne in 1849 supporting a separation from the state of New South Wales. PROV, VPRS 19/P0, Unit 146, Item 28 Right: A petition signed by Bendigo Chinese storekeepers and miners protesting against the ten pound tax unique to Chinese immigrants, 1856. PROV, VPRS 3253/P0, Unit 29, Item 19
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Have camels, will travel In 1858, George Landells, who had worked as a horse trader in India, wrote to the Victorian Government: “The introduction of a troop of Camels into Australia would tend at once to remove all the obstacles that have hitherto prevented the complete exploration of the interior, and I should recommend that at least twenty-four first class animals should be imported…” George Landells (PROV, VPRS 1189/P0 Inward Registered Correspondence I, Unit 75, folder 1858, item P 233). The Government’s Board of Science and Zoological Gardens Committee agreed and Landells was authorised to borrow money from the Indian Government to make the purchase. He travelled through India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to source the camels, a number of which later worked on the Burke and Wills expedition. The receipt for the borrowed 8,000 rupees from India is pictured here. This record can be found within Inward Registered Correspondence of the Colonial Secretary’s Office between 1851 and 1855. The series was continued by the Chief Secretary’s Department between 1855 and 1863.
From 1851 the Colonial Secretary was the official chief of the Government and the entire business of the colony was conducted either directly or indirectly through him. In 1855 the central role of the Colonial Secretary passed to the Chief Secretary. Functions administered both directly and indirectly through the Colonial Secretary’s Office and Chief Secretary’s Department included everything from education, health, immigration, police and prisons, public works, registration of births, deaths and marriages, agriculture, defence, elections, arts, gardens… the list goes on!
“ I should recommend that at least twenty-four first class animals should be imported…” George Landells
Camel Safari and rock formations, Northern Territory, person unknown. PROV, VPRS 12903/P1, Item 416/02
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The receipt for the loan of 8000 Rupees from the Indian Government to George Landells to purchase camels. PROV, VPRS 1189/P0, Unit 757, Item 60. 5574 (recto)
The receipt for the loan of 8000 Rupees from the Indian Government to George Landells to purchase camels. PROV, VPRS 1189/P0, Unit 757, item 60. 5574 (recto)
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The Aboriginal Protectorate and the Native Police PROV holds some of the earliest records relating to the administration of Aboriginal Affairs by the Government of Victoria. An Aboriginal Protectorate was established in Port Phillip in 1839. Richard Broome writes in our guide to Aboriginal records, walata tyamateetj that Chief Protector George Augustus Robinson and four Assistant Protectors “acted as intermediaries between Aboriginal people and settlers and also encouraged Aboriginal people to settle on several protectorate stations.” After several attempts from 1837 to form an Indigenous force of mounted police in the Port Phillip District, the Native Police Corps commenced in 1842 under Captain Henry EP Dana. The Aboriginal troopers were initially mostly Elders of the country surrounding Port Phillip Bay but then from further afield. They tried to work together with the government of those who had invaded their lands, and helped to establish British law and order in the District. On 20 November 1839, Assistant Protector James Dredge wrote to Robinson, proposing that five Taungurung men be appointed to the proposed native police corps. This letter is significant, as it lists the men’s tribe, traditional names, and approximate ages. Among the men is 22 year old Yab-bee or Billy Hamilton, a leader of the Nira Ballug clan of the Taungurung people from the Goulburn valley area. The letter also shows that a relationship had developed between these Taungurung men, and the Assistant Protector. Historical records such as these have significant value for Aboriginal communities today. They can provide evidence and context for understanding Aboriginal peoples’ relationships with the government and others, and often contain important historical information about people, communities and connections to Country.
Letter from Assistant Protector James Dredge to G.A Robinson with suggestions for members of a proposed Native Police Corps. PROV, VPRS 11/P0, Unit 1, Item 26
This record comes from a series of correspondence received by the Chief Protector of Aborigines, George Augustus Robinson that is available online. Other digitised records of the Aboriginal Protectorate and the Native Police Corps are available for access in the Victorian Archives Centre Reading Room. Our Koorie Records Unit provides support and guidance, as well as resources such as the Koorie Index of Names, to assist Aboriginal people wishing to access records relating to their personal, family and community histories.
Right: 1880 rate record for Little LaTrobe Street, Gipps Ward, Melbourne. PROV, VPRS 5708, P9, Volume 19, 1880
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Melbourne’s construction You can discover the many facets of Melbourne’s construction from public buildings and roads to residential homes using public records. Melbourne takes shape as a city within maps, plans, rate records, correspondence files and more…
Little La Trobe Henry Triplett’s basket manufacturing business began as a shop front and a humble three room brick house on Little La Trobe Street in 1875. By the 1900s, Triplett’s business expanded to four properties, each with three or four rooms including a ‘brick factory and store yard.’ The successful business was inherited by his three sons in 1909 and continued to manufacture baskets for another forty years, closing in 1955.
By the 1920s and 1930s the car industry had begun and Little La Trobe became a service centre for cars, reflecting a massive shift away from horse drawn transport to car ownership. Poulton noted that unlike some of Melbourne’s other little laneways, known for crime and prostitution, “Little Latrobe Street was certainly not such a dangerous, unpleasant place, as throughout its history it seems to have been occupied by respectable, albeit working class, businesses and industries.” We hold historic rate records for many councils still in operation including councils that have merged. To research a street or place cross check rate book records over five year intervals.
How do we know this? One way to trace the history of a street and its occupants is to study the early rate books created by local councils to record owner’s names, addresses, and occupations within their district. Historian Fiona Poulton did this for Little La Trobe Street in the 2011 edition of our online journal Provenance. Like all of Melbourne’s laneways, Little La Trobe Street was forced to adapt to waves of immense social, economic and industrial change over 150 years. Originally dominated by small business shopfronts and working class families, such as tailors, laundrettes and boot-makers this all changed by the 1890s, when depression hit the City. The rate records reveal several years of unoccupied homes until new Chinese and European immigrants moved into the area alongside philanthropic services.
Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works Plan showing Little Latrobe Street, date unknown. PROV, VPRS 8601/P1 Unit 21, Detail Plan No. 1023
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West Gate Bridge Few public works in Australian history have attracted as much continued attention as the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne. This photograph taken from below the eastern approach exemplifies the steel box-girder design and method, whereby long concrete and steel box-girder spans were manufactured off-site and then placed into position. In October 1970, one of the spans collapsed due to a poorly executed attempt to correct two that were out of alignment. The mistake had horrific consequences, killing 35 workers. The accident forced an international review of this approach to bridge building and empowered trade unions to demand safer work conditions. Originally called the Lower Yarra Crossing, it began construction in 1968, successfully linking the industrial areas of Melbourne’s west with the burgeoning populations of the east, providing a route over the Yarra that by-passed the city centre. Records linked to major public works in Victoria, including photographs, can be found throughout the collection, often within the records of the agency responsible for the construction. This photograph is held within the records of the Country Roads Board who were responsible for building the West Gate Bridge. Other public works project files and plans are located within the files of the Public Works Department or the Department of Health.
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The West Gate Bridge under constuction, c1969. PROV, VA 722 Country Roads Board. PROV, VPRS 18035/P1, Unit 2, C199
Public buildings and spaces Many of Melbourne’s most important public buildings, stadiums, parks and public institutions were planned and continue to change over time. We hold beautiful nineteenth century drawings of public spaces as part of our Historic Plan Collection. We also preserve records of the development of streets and properties with detailed plans of drainage and sewage systems within the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works plans, as well as field and survey books, plans for cemeteries and even historic mines.
Design plans for Flinders Street Station, 1908. PROV, VPRS 3686, P19 Unit 1821
Plans of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, 1948. By surveyor Ridoutt F.C. PROV, VPRS 8168 P2 / Unit 1644 FEATR682 Historic design plans for Pentridge, c1850s. PROV, VPRS 3686/P1, Unit 292, pgp01
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Residential plans and the State Savings Bank housing plans From public works to private property, our collection is vast. This home plan from 1957 was one of twenty ‘mid-century’ designs on offer that year from the Government-run State Savings Bank of Victoria. If a family secured their house mortgage with the Bank they could additionally purchase a limited edition architectural home plan to go with it. According to the accompanying brochure the erection cost for this plan was 3,875 pounds and featured an asbestos sheeting roof (terracotta tiles could be requested as an alternative) and an iconic suburban clothes hoist. The house and mortgage scheme was on offer from the 1920s, and the State Savings Bank offered the latest trends in home design plans right up until the 1960s. Styles such as the Californian Bungalow and modernist styled homes were particularly popular. Three hundred of these residential home plans spanning many decades as well as promotional brochures about the scheme can be found within the State Bank Victoria collection. In addition, other residential housing plans and commercial architectural plans (up until 1961) where an owner was required to submit plans to council, can also be found within the collection – such as the famous Italian espresso bar Pellegrinis. The original architectural building plans of Pellegrinis Espresso Bar owned by the Pellegrini Brothers in 1954. PROV, VPRS 11200, P10, Unit 1035
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State Savings Bank house plan c1950s T1-T20. PROV, VPRS 8934 P5, Unit1, Timber Types T.1-T.20
The Imagined City Dominating the cityscape from an elevated platform over the Jolimont Railway Yard, The Melbourne Galaxy is a futuristic vision of humanity’s power over nature. The highlight being the enormous Australian Shark Sphere, where great whites and tiger sharks can swim tantalisingly close to spectators. When Robert Sperring and Sydney Davidson designed the Melbourne Galaxy in 1978 for a competition run by the State Government, science fiction was a major influence on design. This proposal, like all the others submitted to the Melbourne Landmark Competition, never saw the light of day. The Government had asked for a landmark that was unique, remarkable, and would
“give us more pride in ourselves and a far more significant place in the global itinerary.” In the end, the judges couldn’t decide on a winner, but there are certainly some magnificent, and outrageous, ideas among the 2300 drawings. In addition to these imaginative designs for a future never realised, we hold a wide variety of maps and plans that document the Victorian landscape and the urban planning of our streets and buildings. Melbourne Galaxy by Robert Sperring and Sydney Davidson from the Landmark Competition Drawings Collection PROV, VA 2717 Department of the Premier, VPRS 2869/P2 Landmark Competition Drawings, Unit 753
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Victoria’s regional development You can also explore aspects of Victoria’s regional history and discover more about the schemes that shaped our country towns and land. Land and property records include Parish plans, pastoral runs and original title records.
Soldier settlement The soldier settlement scheme, which settled returned World War One soldiers on land across Victoria, helped shape many of the regional towns of today. John Joseph Gervasoni was a second-generation Italian-Australian who served in the Australian infantry from 1915-1918. After the war, he and his brother Carlo applied for land under the Victorian Soldier Settlement Scheme which enabled soldiers to lease subdivided blocks from the Government.
John Gervasoni initially planted 22,000 vines to produce wine which he’d share after church on Sundays. He also helped build a local dance hall where his children played regularly as The Gervasoni Orchestra, earning a decent side income during the 1920s depression. The Gervasonis bought abandoned soldier settlement blocks as others failed and eventually acquired enough land to make it viable. Files about World War One returned soldier settlers, which include records detailing how the land was managed, have been digitised and can be searched by name on the Soldier Settlement page of our website. Records from the soldier settlement and land settlement scheme after World War Two can be viewed by searching record series from an agency called the Soldier Settlement Commission.
In 1919, John’s family leased 280 acres in Katandra, near Shepparton. The block came with no amenities (typical of the scheme) so the Gervasoni family transported their own house onto the block and managed with a basic irrigation system.
Photo of the Gervasoni family with their T model Ford, courtesy of Ken Gervasoni
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Black Saturday We have a long history of bushfires in Victoria which has slowly changed the way the landscape, regional towns and homes are managed, particularly during summer months. The February 2009 Victorian bushfires and heatwave was one of the most significant natural disasters Victoria has ever experienced. The bushfires devastated the State, with memories of the event still impacting communities today. There were 173 people who died in the tragedy, and many more were injured or had their homes destroyed.
“We need to learn from the experiences of Black Saturday and improve the way we prepare for and respond to bushfires,” 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.
An exhibit item within the files of the witness statement from Peter Olorenshaw, beef farmer and police officer from Callignee, Victoria. PROV, VPRS 16497, P1, Item Exh 0061
Royal Commission reports such as the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission Interim and Final Reports, provide a significant record of investigations and recommendations into events in Victoria’s history, forming an important part of our collection. The records include exhibit items and witness statements that helped inform the commission’s report. The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission resulted in 67 recommendations to prevent a similar disaster from ever happening again.
Left: Page 1 of John Joseph Gervasoni’s lease application, PROV, VPRS 5714/P0 Land Selection Files, Section12 Closer Settlement Act 1938, Unit 369 File 359/12
Final Report, Summary, 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, PROV, VPRS 16295, P3, Item 0003
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Public transport In Victoria, it’s hard to think of a topic more widely discussed, analysed and debated than that of public transport. Ticket prices, timetables, train delays and cancellations, all grace the pages of newspaper columns and the airwaves of talkback radio on a daily basis. Our collection of Public Transport Corporation records spans from 1879 through to 2003, incorporating photographs taken by Railways photographers, correspondence and employee records, development project files, marketing materials and much more. These records are a treasure trove for train and tram enthusiasts, city historians and those with public transport employees within their family tree. The photographs in particular spark memories and nostalgia among anyone who grew up ‘riding the rails’.
Rail electrification
Flinders Street Station yard showing overhead crossovers and cross span construction of the electrification scheme, c1919. PROV, VPRS 12397/P1, Unit 1
Melbourne’s first electric train was trialled on the 6th of October 1918 on the Flemington Racecourse line. It attracted lots of fanfare and attention in the newspapers. Public services started the following year. At the time, Melbourne was the largest city in Australia, and was the first to electrify its train services. By 1923 most of the suburban train services were operated by electric trains. It was an immediate success, with patronage soaring as a result of the quicker travel times and reduced cost. “The Acting Prime Minister said he felt like the happy parent officiating at the baptism of one of his many children.” The Age reported of the first electric train services, proving Melburnians’ love of the mode of transport has always run deep. The photographs included in the Electrification Scheme photo album range from 1912 when works began through to its implementation in 1919. Buildings such as the Jolimont and Caulfield Sub-Stations, the Newport Power Station, promotional shots of Victorian landmarks and countryside, over-line bridges, and track structure also feature.
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Safety First, How not to stand in the carriage doorway. Tait carriage, c1934. PROV, VPRS 12903/P1, Item 216/05
Railways refreshments branch Crisp uniforms, hand painted signs and silver tea trolleys all mark the heyday of public transport in Victoria. In 1920s Australia, there was only one car for every 55 people and most Melbournians relied on public transport for both vacations as well as their daily commute. The modern traveller appreciated the convenience of buying food and drink in the stations and on the carriages. The Victorian Railways Refreshments Branch was set up in 1920 and throughout its first decade was heavily documented by government photographers. Shooting juice bars in action through to posed portraits of uniformed staff, the photographers captured every detail, right down to individual raisins used in the fruit bread! The scope of the Refreshments Branch was broader than you might think, with this photographic collection also including eerie images of empty hairdressing salons, as well as head shots of handsome Mt Buffalo ski instructors. The Refreshments Branch photographs are part of our Public Transport Photographic Collection which has been digitised and is available to view in high resolution through our website.
A standard waitress uniform for The Refreshments Branch staff. PROV, VPRS 12903/P1, Item 177/02
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Photographic collections Public Record Office Victoria preserves many photographs produced by Government agencies from the mid to late 1800s. Some series are vast, such as the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop photographs, or the Melbourne Harbour Trust and Public Transport Corporation collections. There are many documenting the small and large events that have shaped the State’s history. Some of these collections are already online, while others are being held within our cool room awaiting discovery.
Reg Mombassa and his band mates from Mental As Anything painting one of the original art trams (726) from the Transporting Art Program series. PROV, VPRS 12620/P4, Unit 1, Item 002/003
The State Bank of Victoria Loans and Legal Department’s women’s football match at Albert Park, c1970s. PROV, VPRS 8935/P1, Unit 1, Item 6914
A man crouches in one of the newly constructed underground tunnels at Flagstaff Station during construction of the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop from the State Transport Authority Photographic Collection c1980. PROV, VPRS 12905/P2, Unit 5, Item UC6021
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Harbour Trust’s Work (Swinging Basin). Harbour Trust Image, River Yarra 1886. PROV, VPRS 8357/P3, Unit 3, Item 103
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Business and advertising Business interaction with agencies and Victorian Government advertising feature throughout various series in our collection. Not only do they demonstrate the attitudes of the people and the Government of the time in which they were created, but they also showcase the work of some of the finest artists of the period utilising artistic technique and style for marketing.
Australiana tourism posters From James Northfield’s painterly landscapes in the 1930s to Eileen Mayo’s stylised wildlife of the 1950s, the posters commissioned by the Australian National Travel Association and Victorian Railways memorably capture the grandeur of our natural environment. With a single image and only minimal text, the vivid illustrations were needed to convince potential holidaymakers that Australia was worth the 40 days at sea it might take to travel to the other side of the world. Encouraging Victorians to explore their own backyard may have been an easier sell, but the posters for local attractions were no less dramatic. Born in a rural community just outside of Inverleigh, the love that James Northfield had for Victoria’s countryside is evident in his vibrant depictions of beaches, mountain ranges and towns across the state. As Australia suffered the effects of the Great Depression, these optimistic images were hugely popular with the public. The most fruitful place to discover advertising images in our collection is in our Public Transport Photographic Collection. The State Bank Victoria collection is another rich resource for twentieth century advertising material. Mount Buffalo National Park Poster number 215. Public Transport Photographic Collection. PROV, VPRS 12800/P7, Item 609/03 © James Northfield Heritage Art Trust Mount Macedon has exclusive beauty. Poster number 218, c1930s. Public Transport Photographic Collection. PROV, VPRS 12903/P1, Item 609/11 © James Northfield Heritage Art Trust
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To Melbourne by daylight. Public Transport Photographic Collection. PROV, VPRS 12903/P1, Box 696/13
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War time propaganda Over the course of World War One, 112,000 Victorians enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces and 19,000 lost their lives. As enlistments slowed in 1916 and 1917, the darkest days of the war, two referendums asked Australians to decide whether men should be conscripted. As you’d expect, the issue was controversial. It divided families, communities and political parties. Thousands of impassioned speeches were made, endless newspaper columns written, with mass meetings and huge rallies held throughout the country. Pro-conscription propaganda often featured graphic, grisly, caricatures of the enemy. Germany was depicted as the monstrous ‘Hun’ trampling liberty and murdering innocent women and children. As part of our City of Melbourne Town Clerk’s Correspondence Files you can find propaganda posters and pamphlets campaigning both for and against. Australians ultimately voted against conscription, despite a huge government campaign to persuade them otherwise. In a sense then, the conscription story is also a story of the triumph of democracy, amidst the most testing of circumstances.
To the letter Back when daily correspondence was all done by mail, decorative letterheads were a regular feature. What better way to announce the brilliance of your product, company or event than to begin your letter with an intricate, artistic and sometimes colourful banner at the top of the page? You can find examples of stunning letterheads of the last 150 years scattered throughout our collection. In 2014, a group of University of Melbourne researchers compiled some of their favourites in Provenance by delving into City of Melbourne records held within our
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The ‘Hun’ poster held within the City of Melbourne’s Town Clerk’s Correspondence Files War Records Miscellaneous. PROV, VPRS 3183/P0, Unit 132
collection. The letterheads reveal civil and corporate identities of their time, and highlight various aspects of Melbourne life including transport, entertainment, and even trends in design.
“In an age when forgotten aspects of urban memory are popularly being reclaimed through an interest in visual iconography, historical brands and locally-based institutions, the letterhead provides endless interest for the city historian,” Andrew J May, Stephen Banham and Christine Eid, Provenance 2014.
Letter from Ashton’s Circus, Australia, dated 29 November 1955. PROV, VPRS 3183/P5, Unit 19, Item 5428
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Legislation One way to look at the development of Victorian values is to consider how legislation has changed over time.
Protection of Animals Act In 1986 the Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Act was passed the Victorian parliament, replacing the 1966 Protection of Animals Act developed initially to introduce standards for animal welfare. The legislation had been amended so extensively since 1966, that the Department of Agriculture recommended a change in name to better reflect the Act in terms of its practical application. The Act demanded codes of practice for humane farming, changes to rodeo and dog trapping practices, better livestock transportation methods, and the introduction of ethics committees to oversee the use of animals in medical and scientific experimentation. Exemptions to the act included animals killed under the Abbattoir and Meat Inspection Act 1973 or animal welfare directed a veterinary surgeon. We preserve a number of series that contain documents to inform how and why Acts of Parliament are amended or Bills introduced. These records can be found in Original Papers Tabled in the Legislative Assembly, held within the Legislative Assembly Agency records. Other related records worth considering are transcriptions of parliamentary debates, catalogued in a series called Hansard (Legislative Assembly) and listed by date, as well as correspondence records from the Agency or Department responsible for the legislation.
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986, legislative Matters, from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, General Correspondence Files. PROV, VPRS 9603/P3 Unit 67 Item 9648 Cover, Hansard Parliamentary debates, 2008. Legislative Assembly, PROV, VPRS 14315, P3, Unit 14
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Melbourne’s drinking revolution This poster was produced by the Australian Hotels Association in 1986 to protest against a major overhaul of the Act governing Victorian liquor licencing. The association felt the sweeping reforms being proposed could destroy the hotel industry which had a monopoly over serving alcohol. In 1984 a major review of the State’s Liquor Control Act was completed by the academic Dr John Nieuwenhuysen. He discovered Victoria’s laws were outdated, favoured hotels over smaller venues, and stifled entrepreneurs. He also questioned the power of the Licencing Court, which had a reputation for making subjective decisions on licencing including expressing opinions about a venue’s food and wine menu.
This poster can be found within the General Correspondence Files of Caulfield Council 1981 to 1991. Along with other correspondence files about council debate on the proposed changes. Correspondence files are a term given to records of correspondence between Government staff or the public over a specific subject. You can find records of this type throughout the collection.
At the time restaurants and bars were required to serve meals with alcohol even if all they offered was live music, which led to inedible options being served to punters simply to honour their licencing requirements. If restaurant guests were drinking after the imposed time limit on drinking and a liquor licencing officer made a visit they were known to pour their remaining wine into table vases set up for that purpose. There was also a limitation on how many alcohol licences could be granted in an area if a hotel operated nearby. The sweeping changes reduced 29 licences down to six and recommended 187 changes to the Act, most of which were accepted. The changes liberated the hospitality industry and enabled a more European drinking culture to develop uninhibited. This reform was considered a transformative step in fostering Melbourne’s small bar and restaurant culture and ensuring the music industry flourished, two of the City’s most important cultural assets. PROV, VA Caulfield City, VPRS 11083, P1, Unit 29, Item 20 080 00022A, General Correspondence Files, A Liquor Control Act. Poster Hogwash.
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We wish and hope to have freedom “We Aboriginals all wish and hope to have freedom, not to be bound down by the Protection of the Board… But we should be free like the White Population,” wrote activist and Wurundjeri ngurungaeta (clan leader) William Barak in his letter to the Victorian Chief Secretary on 21 September 1886. At this time the Aborigines Protection Act (Vic) 1869 gave the government’s Board for the Protection of Aborigines extensive control over Aboriginal people’s residence, provision of rations, education, working conditions, and the care and custody of children. Barak’s letter, signed by residents of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve, had a simple request for a basic human right – to be able to leave home and return as they desired. It formed part of a peaceful campaign led by Barak for the rights and culture of his people, and to retain Coranderrk for the community. This record is part of a series of correspondence received by the Chief Secretary’s Department, including letters and petitions by Aboriginal people showing their resilience and determination as they dealt with difficult and often repressive administrations. Other letters and petitions from Aboriginal Victorians can be located within the records of the Board for the Protection of Aborigines. Online resources produced by our Koorie Records Unit to assist Aboriginal peoples with researching records such as these include the reference books walata tyamateetj and Finding Your Mob, both research guides available under Koorie Services on our website or the Aboriginal Records topic guide.
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William Barak’s letter to the Victorian Chief Secretary on 21 September 1886 asking for equal rights for Aboriginal people to leave and return from their homes at will. PROV, VPRS 3992/P0, Unit 145, E9263
Victorian lives The records in our collection reveal real stories of real people living and working in Victoria throughout the history of the State. Some stories are sad, some are hopeful, and all are waiting to be found by those who wish to seek them.
School days Do you remember a time when milk was delivered to every school, the three R’s of teaching were common place, and the bookshelves included How the bunnies got to Australia, Dinty and The wee ones nursery rhymes? Original records, photographs and books from our collection of Education Records provide insight into the history of education in Victoria, starting with the 1872 Education Act which saw Victoria become the first state to establish a public school system based on the principles of free, secular and compulsory education.
In this photo from our collection, a young boy from Brunswick East Primary School reads from the ‘Fifth Book’ Victorian School Reader in front of his class in 1953. There was one Victorian School Reader, published by the Victorian Education Department, for each grade level. Subjects from this class curriculum can be clearly seen on the blackboard behind the boy, including grammar, arithmetic, singing and social sciences. Photos like this one can to take us back to our own school days; the nerves of reading aloud, the relief of finally memorising your times tables and the excitement of Friday school sports. Other records in the collection include school annual reports and history files, correspondence files, teacher record books, and Ministerial Library Textbooks.
The Wee Ones Nursery Rhymes, Ministerial Library Textbook Collection 1980–2003. PROV, VPRS 13554, P21, Unit 8 Boy reading in class, 1953, Brunswick East Primary School, PROV, VPRS 14514 P2 Unit 42
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True tales of crime They say that truth is stranger than fiction. The saying applies wonderfully to the archives, where true crime full of incredible real-life characters and stories is available right at your fingertips. The story of the McDonalds reads like a Hollywood caper, but our records reveal the tale to be true. Delve into our Prison Registers and you will find the 1930s records of both Mary and Thomas McDonald. Dig deeper into our Criminal Trial Briefs and their life and crimes come to life. In 1931 Mary and Thomas were a young couple with a newborn baby living in Albert Park. The Great Depression hit the family hard. Thomas lost his job as a mechanic and the little baby became ill. Mary and Thomas unsuccessfully tried finding work and seeking charity but eventually decided they had no other choice but to steal. Each housebreaking expedition went roughly the same way. Thomas and Mary would drive around the suburbs looking for a house to target. At first they used a motorcycle and sidecar. Mary would wait in the sidecar, keeping watch with the baby, while Thomas broke in and stole whatever he could carry. It was estimated by Police that they stole upwards of £5,000 worth of goods from 75 houses across the Bayside suburbs, selling some things and keeping others, during their 13 month crime spree. Eventually they had enough money to purchase a motor car making their thefts even easier. The Police finally caught up with them though, finding their house full of stolen goods.
“To tell you the truth nothing in this house belongs to us except the furniture,” Thomas told The Herald, 27 November 1931. Both Mary and Thomas were sent to gaol, and the residents of Melbourne’s Bayside suburbs slept a little easier. Thomas McDonald’s Prison Register, PROV, VPRS 515, P1, Volume 84, Item No. 41738 Mary McDonald Prison Register, PROV, VPRS 516, P2, Volume 14, Item No. 7705
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Mental health British impresario Thomas Quinlan was well-known in the 1910s for bringing ambitious, large-scale opera productions to the colonies. Initially hugely popular, his lavish performances came to a halt after a 1922 Australian tour by the Sistine Chapel Choir turned out to be a financial failure. What happened to Quinlan after this disastrous last tour? The answer lies in a place you wouldn’t expect - in the hand written clinical notes from Melbourne’s Kew Asylum.
According to his patient file, a disillusioned Quinlan turned his back on music to focus on science, becoming convinced that he had discovered a cure for cancer. However, according to the doctors at the Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital, his ‘cure’ included a method for creating rubber out of sheepskin, rambling speech notes and “meaningless foreign words purporting to be scientific terms.” Quinlan protested that “the idea of his being considered insane is perfectly ludicrous” but nevertheless he spent the next fourteen years of his life being admitted to various Melbourne mental hospitals, finally being discharged from Kew Asylum on New Year’s Day 1937. In hospital it seems that Quinlan found his passion for music had yet to be exhausted and amongst the pages of doctors’ observations, there are letters and plans from Quinlan, including records of his attempts to start the ‘Kew Asylum Band’. Kew Asylum’s patient clinical notes from 1912–1953 consist of thin hand-bound books documenting patient admission details as well as periodic notes outlining their ongoing condition through to their eventual discharge or death. This series is one of many that holds records from Victoria’s state-run mental health institutions.
Kew Asylum’s patient clinical notes from 1912–1953 including notes on Thomas Quinlan. PROV, VPRS 7693/P1 Patient Clinical Notes, Unit 18
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Death At the Melbourne Morgue, on the 13th of March 1936, the State Coroner Arthur Tingate wrote his inquest findings on the death of Doris Stuckenschmidt, a 31 year old woman from regional Victoria who died in Warburton in February. She had been rushed to the hospital from a nearby chalet showing symptoms of cold shivers and bleeding. He reviewed the 15 pages of detailed witness statements and doctors’ notes and tried to piece together his conclusion on what happened to Doris in the final two weeks of her life. His note on the inquest form concluded:
“Doris ... died from septicaemia and septic inflammation of the kidney following an unlawful abortion, but how or by what means such an abortion was caused the evidence added doesn’t enable me to say.” Did Doris herself inflict that wound, in a desperate attempt to terminate her pregnancy, or did she, as she said on her death bed, visit an elderly doctor and their tardy work result in her death? Either way, her death was not investigated any further when the Doctor denied knowing the victim. Her inquest record tells us a lot about her life: her day-to-day activities; her love life and family; and, finally, her intimate death-bed conversations, told through the eyes of others. Inquest records are an excellent source of information for their value in informing social history as well as family history research. Unlike many personal records, inquest records to 1985 are viewable to the public. Conducted by the Coroner, inquest investigations attempt to isolate the exact cause of a person’s death by interviewing witnesses and individuals related to the case, particularly if the death may have been unexpected. They may also include photographs.
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Doris Stuckenschmidt’s inquest file, 1936. PROV, VPRS 24, P0 Unit 1936, Unit 1304, Item 1936/333
After death Mrs Caroline Pohl, commonly known as Caroline Hodgson, died in Melbourne in 1908 and in her last Will and Testament she listed her occupation as a Boarding Housekeeper. Given the year, this job title was probably more palatable than listing her actual occupation as the infamous Madam Brussels, high end madame and business owner operating a brothel from 32 Lonsdale Street from the 1870s until her death. There are many famous historical characters listed within the Wills and Probate records in our collection, alongside the Wills of every-day Victorians. For family historians these records throw up fascinating new characters to pursue and curiosities to investigate.
In this case, Caroline Pohl, aka Madam Brussels, left her personal belongings like linen and jewellery to an adopted daughter Irene Maria Yvonne Hodgson. It begs the question: why was baby Irene entrusted to a brothel owner? What became of Irene once Caroline passed away? And why did Caroline leave her a bent coin in a silver purse? We can only guess! Will and Probate records can be searched by name up until roughly two years prior to the present day with digitised historic records available to view on our website.
Photograph of Caroline Hodgson, as Madame Brussels. Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria
The will of Caroline Hodgson, listed as Caroline Pohl, detailing which assets and belongings she wished to leave her adopted daughter Maria Yvonne Hodgson, 1908. PROV, VPRS 7591, P2 Item 424 Probate VPRS 28 Unit 2 Item 108/351
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Explore our collection The records featured in this book, and millions more, can be viewed by visiting our website and reading rooms. Many of our most popular records, such as wills and property records, have been digitised and are available to view online free-of-charge. Records that haven’t been digitised can be ordered online for viewing in our North Melbourne Reading Room at the Victorian Archives Centre. Records local to Ballarat you can view at the Ballarat Archives Centre Reading Room, and records local to Bendigo are viewed at the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre. To help you with your research we have sorted much of our collection into topics such as Property and Land; Health and Welfare; and Justice, Crime and Law. We also have a section on our website called ‘Where to start’ for researchers new to the collection. Visit prov.vic.gov.au to get started today! Public Record Office Victoria Victorian Archives Centre 99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne 10am-4.30pm Monday to Friday (and the second and last Saturday of the month) Ballarat Archives Centre Eureka Centre 102 Stawell Street South, Ballarat Central 10am-4.30pm Monday to Thursday Bendigo Regional Archives Centre Bendigo Library 251-259 Hargreaves Street, Bendigo 10am-4.30pm Wednesday and Thursday Geelong Heritage Centre Geelong Library and Heritage Centre 51 Little Malop Street Geelong Check website for houts Tuesday to Saturday