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Land, Places and Local History – Property Research at PROV
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Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) holds a rich and
diverse range of records for researching places and properties including houses,
schools, churches, hotels, factories and businesses.
Locating a Property
Parish and Township Plans
Created by the Victorian Lands Department, these maps and
plans show Crown reserves, cemeteries, school sites, church and police reserves
as well as the names of the original purchasers of land from the Crown.
Arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the parish or township, they are
available on microfiche in the Victorian Archives Centre (VAC) and Ballarat Archives
Centre (BAC) Reading Rooms.
Postal Directories
A selection is available on microfiche in PROV Reading Rooms.
They contain listings of businesses and occupations and alphabetical listings
of people across the state of Victoria, sometimes divided by streets or areas
but varying in format and content. Directories are also available in many
local libraries and genealogical centres and an extensive collection can be
found at the State
Library of Victoria.
Electoral and Voters Rolls
Electoral and voters rolls provide alphabetical listings of
people and their residential address. PROV holds rolls for some
municipalities. Researchers are advised to contact the State Library of
Victoria which holds the state’s most comprehensive
collection.
VPRS
4029 Citizens Lists and/or Citizens Rolls MCC (1843-1994)
These list citizens eligible to vote in the Melbourne City
Council (MCC) elections, (originally rate paying males over 21 years of age
occupying a property valued at £25 or more). Women began to appear
on lists at the end of the nineteenth century. Voters are listed in
alphabetical order within each electoral ward. Information varied over the
years but after 1863 included the voter's name, residential address and
occupation, the type of property and its location.
Wills and Probate
VPRS
7591 Wills (1853-1992) and VPRS
28 Probate and Administration Files (1841-1998)
Wills and Probate records often contain information about property
owned by a deceased person and their beneficiaries. Probate files include
an inventory of the deceased’s estate. Details may include parish,
section and allotment number, folio number, value of property and improvements
made, for example, buildings, crops and quality of the land. Please note
wills form part of the probate series after 1992. For additional
information please see PROVguide 68
Ordering Wills and Probate Records.
Local Government
Rate Books and Valuation Records
PROV holds a wide selection of rate records for Victorian
municipalities. Rate and valuation records typically list the address,
the name of the owner, a brief description of the dwelling, the rates paid and
sometimes the occupant’s name and the name of the house. These
records were created annually and are often arranged by streets within council
wards and ridings. Rate records can be ordered via PROV’s online
catalogue for viewing in the relevant Reading Room. Some rate records are
available on microfilm and microfiche in PROV Reading Rooms.
To search for rate records, first identify the relevant
council or councils that created them. A listing of councils for which
PROV holds records can be found in VRG
12 Municipalities on PROV’s online catalogue at www.access.prov.vic.gov.au.
When you have located the page in the catalogue for the council you are
seeking, click on the Related Series tab for a list of Series held at PROV
created by that council.
Building Permits
Applications for building permits provide valuable
information including architectural plans of the building, additions, renovations
and correspondence between council and the owner or occupier. Building
applications cover private residences, factories, public buildings, offices and
shops.
PROV holds extensive building permit records for VA
511 City of Melbourne. Please note that the boundaries of the municipality
of Melbourne changed over the years and at times included the suburbs of
Hotham/North Melbourne, Flemington and Kensington.
VPRS
11202 Building Application Plan Index (1916-1993) is available on
microfiche in the VAC Reading Room and provides access to the following Series:
VPRS
11200 Building Application Plans (1916-1958)
VPRS
11201 Building Application Files (1916-1960)
To order plans and files for viewing in the VAC Reading Room
firstly locate the property address on the index (VPRS 11202) and note down the
application numbers. Then use a Search
within a Series on PROV’s online
catalogue by entering the application number obtained from the index and the
VPRS number.
VPRS
9288 Notices of Intention to Build (1850-1916)
Prior to 1916 owners of property within the Melbourne City
Council were not required to submit a building plan or application but simply a
notice of an intention to build. The contents of these records include
the address or location of the building, nature of the works, anticipated
building commencement date, and the name of the owner, builder and
architect. This series is accessed through VPRS
9289 Building Notices Register and Index (1850-1916).
Much of the information in the notices is available on
microfiche at PROV’s Reading Rooms in VPRS
9463 Burchett Index: Notices of Intention to Build (1850-1916) and VPRS
9462 Index to Architects Named in Notices of Intention to Build (1850-1916).
VPRS
9282 Property Sales Register (1937-1972)
These registers records property sales in the City of Melbourne
and are arranged by street name. Details include; date of sale, ward
number, vendor, purchaser, description of property, measurements, sale price
and price per foot/metre.
Other councils for which PROV holds Building Application
Permits are:
VA
2533 Werribee(1919-1994) Wyndham (1862-1909) (Includes Altona plans prior
to 1957) (part of City of Hobson’s Bay)
To access the building permit records for these councils,
obtain the permit number from the relevant council. Building
application permits can then be ordered through PROV’s online
catalogue. Please note not all building permits have been retained.
For building permits for local government areas not listed in this guide, contact
the relevant local council.
For more information about local government see VRG
12 Municipalities on PROV’s online catalogue.
VA 1007 Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW)
Established in 1891, the main function of the Melbourne and
Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) was the construction and management of
sewerage and water infrastructure in the Melbourne metropolitan area.
In 1892 the MMBW commenced a survey of the Melbourne
metropolitan area as the first step in the task of establishing the
city’s sewerage system. As a result of the survey a number of
different records were created which documented sewerage and drainage
infrastructure and connections to individual properties. These include VPRS
8601 Detailed Base Plans and VPRS
8600 Survey Field Books which were created to plot water, sewerage
and drainage plans. They show streets, building and property boundaries.
The following is a step-by-step guide to accessing these records.
Step 1: VPRS
12758 Index Map Book facilitates access to the record plans by
providing the negative numbers required for ordering the plans. The index
book is available from the issues desk in the VAC Reading Room and does not
need to be ordered. The State Library of Victoria also has a digitised
copy of the index book available for viewing online at www.slv.vic.gov.au/mmbw.
Step 1: Once you have obtained
the number from the index book you can order the negatives VPRS
8601 Detailed Base Plans (1891-c.1950) by filling in an order form
at the VAC Reading Room. These records cannot be ordered online. Please
note MMBW negatives are stored in cold storage for their long-term preservation
and are delivered to the VAC Reading Room 24 hours from the time the order is
lodged.
Step 2: Some digitised MMBW detailed
base plans covering central Melbourne can be accessed through the State Library
of Victoria’s online catalogue available at www.slv.vic.gov.au/mmbw.
These maps sometimes vary from those held by PROV.
Step 3:Some detailed base
plans contain references to the field books (VPRS
8600 Survey Field Books 1891-1970) used in the survey of properties
depicted in that plan. Field books contain detailed sketches of
individual properties. Note down the field book numbers that appear on
the detailed base plan and place an order via PROV’s online catalogue
using Search within a Series. Enter the series number in the VPRS
field and the field book number in the other text field.
VPRS
11570 Plans of Drainage (House Connections) (1902-1975) provides
detailed information about property boundaries and changes to buildings on
sites over many years. The series includes properties currently within
the jurisdiction of Yarra Valley Water. Files are located by their property
service number which can be obtained from Yarra Valley Water, and on some detailed
base plans (VPRS 8601). Once you have the property service number you can order
the record through PROV’s online catalogue.
VA 669 Public Works Department / Building Services
Agency
Plans of government buildings designed or maintained by the
Public Works Department and subsequently the Building Services Agency, are a
rich source for researching properties. Plans are available on aperture
cards, in the Reading Room at the Victorian Archives Centre. A database
index to the plans is available on PROV’s online catalogue.
Please note, researchers wishing to access plans of court
houses, police stations or prisons must first provide written authority from
the relevant government department. Please refer to PROVguide
28 Public Works Department – Building Services Agency Plans
for information about ordering BSA plans and accessing restricted plans.
Researchers can also refer to the inventory of records held
by VA
669 Public Works Department for other series that relate to
the construction and maintenance of government buildings, such as VPRS
10516 Photographs and Negatives of Government Buildings (1926-1965).
Public Building Files
Buildings that were used for recreation, entertainment and
education purposes (excluding state primary and secondary schools) were
inspected by the Health Department who referred to them as public buildings.
These include community halls, churches, theatres, sporting facilities, mechanics
institutes and non government schools. For records relating to government
primary schools see VPRS
795 Building Files: Primary schools.
VPRS
7882 Public Building Files (1874 - 1988) can include sketch plans of
the building, inspection reports, certificates of occupancy, correspondence to
and from the health department and applications for registration. A database
index to these records is available from PROVguide 23
PROV’s Digitised Records and Online Indexes. Once you
have obtained the unit details from the index, an order can be placed through PROV’s
online catalogue.
See PROVguide 21
Ordering Records for instructions.
Other Sources for Property Research
Land Records
In addition to parish and township maps and historic maps
and plans, PROV holds an extensive range of land records including pastoral run
and selection files, correspondence files and land sales registers. See PROVguide
55 Land Records for information about PROV holdings.
Title Records
Certificates of title can be obtained through Land Victoria:
www.land.vic.gov.au.
PROV holds some title records: VPRS
460 Applications for Certificates of Title 1862 – 1969 which relates
to the conversion of general law titles to Torrens titles from 1864. The
records are accessed by application number available from the Land Victoria Information Centre.
Government Gazettes
Available on computers in the PROV’s Reading Rooms, the
gazettes list land sales, auctions, tenders and contracts for government
buildings and the gazetting of crown land and reserves.
State Library Victoria has architecture publications and
surveys, maps, an online photographic collection and MMBW plans in its
collection: www.slv.vic.gov.au
Infralib-Department of Infrastructure Library
Infralib holds copies of conservation and heritage studies
and plans, publications relating to Australian architecture, and conservation
guidelines and recommendations www.doi.vic.gov.au (go to
Publications, then click on the link to the library). Infralib is open to
the general public as a reference resource.
University of Melbourne Archives and Faculty of Architecture
Holds records relating to architecture, architects, business
and private organisations, maps and photographs www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/archives/.
PictureAustralia
Search and view images online from the collections of
Australian libraries, museums, archives, galleries and universities including
PROV www.pictureaustralia.org.
Local Historical Societies and Local Libraries
Local historical societies hold records relating to their
local area, as well as community histories written by local historians.
See the website of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria for a list of
affiliated societies www.historyvictoria.org.au.
Publications
Private
Lives, Public Records: Family history resources at Public Record Office
Victoria, 2004 (2nd ed) published by Public Record Office Victoria.
The National Trust Research Manual: trace the history of
your house and other places, 2004 ed. Celestina Sagazio, Halstead Press,
NSW.