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54
Transport – Ships and Shipping Movements
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Public Record Office Victoria holds records of the
administration of Victorian ports, from as early as 1839, which relate to
controlling vessel movement into and out of Victorian ports; regulating loading
and discharging of goods including the collection of wharfage rates; providing
pilot services; constructing and maintaining of government marine vessels;
maintaining navigational aids and operational lighthouses and lightships and
signal stations.
Port Phillip had been surveyed and charted, basic ports and
harbour facilities installed, and the first bay pilot licensed between 1835 and
1839.
Until 1851 the Superintendent of Port Phillip District was
responsible for ports and harbours, operational responsibilities resting with
the Harbour Master. In 1855 the Harbour Masters (located at Melbourne and Portland)
became part of the Department of Trade and Customs. The Harbour Masters
together with the Immigration Agents were part of what became known as the
Ports and Harbours Branch of the Department.
In 1877 the newly established Melbourne Harbour Trust
Commissioners assumed responsibility for ports and harbours functions within
the port of Melbourne. The Trust was responsible for the management of the port
facilities, making improvements to the port and the regulation of the trade of
the port. The latter included overseeing landing or shipping of merchandise,
arrivals and departures of vessels and wharfage rates. In 1978 the Melbourne
Harbour Trust Commissioners was reconstituted as the Port of Melbourne
Authority.
Responsibility for Victoria's regional ports and harbours
remained, after the establishment of the Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners,
with the Ports and Harbours Branch first of the Department of Trade and Customs
(VA
606) until 1900 and then of the Public Works Department (VA
669) until 1986.
It was not until 1986 that the Ports and Harbours Branch was
integrated with Victoria's three port authorities (Port of Melbourne Authority,
Port of Geelong Authority, established in 1905 as the Geelong Harbour Trust,
and Port of Portland Authority set up in 1951 as the Portland Harbour Trust).
The Port of Melbourne Authority became responsible for all ports of eastern Victoria
while responsibility for the ports to the west was divided between the Port of Portland
Authority and the Port of Geelong Authority.
A significant part of the records of these authorities
relate to the movement of ships in and out of Victorian ports and harbours.
These registers and indexes vary in scope. Some record shipping activity in all
ports, some are limited to one port, others to certain wharves within a port.
Listed below is a selection of the more substantial series. The amount of
information each contains varies. Some record little more than movement dates
while others have considerable information about each ship.
The records can be used to track movements of ships and
their captains, to determine the rig, tonnage and owner of a vessel, the size
of its crew, the cargo and number of passengers it carried.
This series comprises an alphabetical index of shipping
arrivals in Victorian ports. Each arrival of the ship is then listed in
chronological order by date of arrival. Entries include name of vessel,
tonnage, master, port of embarkation and date of arrival.
This series comprises a self-indexing chronological record
of ship arrivals at Victorian ports. It is possible to search by name of
the ship within a span of years covered by each volume. Ships are not listed in
strict alphabetical order. Entries comprise the following details: date of
ship's arrival, tonnage, name of ship, name of ship's master, port sailed from.
These records include shipping registers that were created
to document the arrival and departure of vessels arriving at Victorian ports.
Some registers can be identified as having been maintained at specific ports
such as Williamstown, Geelong, Portland and Port Fairy.
Details vary but usually include date of entry, name of
ship, country of vessel, tonnage, number, date and port of registry, name of
master, country of master, number of crew, cargo, place of discharge, from
where vessel came, owner or agents name, tonnage dues paid, and number of
passengers.
This series comprises a record of passenger ship arrivals at
Victorian ports. Entries are arranged in the volumes firstly by the month of
the ship's arrival, secondly by the port of departure and thirdly by date of
ship's arrival. Entries for arrivals at Melbourne are listed first
followed by arrivals at Geelong and Port Albert. Entries include port of
arrival, date of arrival, name and vessel, tonnage, port of departure and
number of cabin, intermediate and steerage passengers.
This series is arranged identically to Record of Passenger
Ship Arrivals (VPRS 954) above and includes the same information about each
ship.
Entries mostly relate to berths within the Yarra River and
are in all but one register in chronological order by date of the vessel's
arrival. Information relating to the following matters is consistently given:
arrival and departure times and dates, names of vessels and their masters,
nationality of the vessel and/or where the vessel arrived from, berthing times
and locations, tonnage of cargo and type of rig.
This series, maintained by the Melbourne Harbour Trust
commissioners consists of daily lists of vessels discharging and loading at
various Harbour Trust and other wharves and piers within the Port of Melbourne
(Williamstown, Yarraville, Footscray and Hobsons Bay). Information recorded
includes date of arrival, vessels name, tonnage berthed, rig, master's name,
loading berth, date sailed, length and draught of rig, type of cargo, length of
pier, whether loading or discharging.
The registers contain brief information about each overseas
vessel (tonnage, length, oil or coal burner) records arrival and departure
dates, where berthed and for how long, charges made for port services and
vessel's agent. If a vessel's name is known this series can be used to
determine dates of arrival and hence can provide a means of access to the
fuller shipping information which is arranged chronologically by date of
arrival in Register of Shipping (VPRS
8005) above.
The registers contain brief information about each
interstate vessel (tonnage, length, oil or coal burner) records arrival and
departure dates, where berthed and for how long, charges made for port services
and vessel's agent. If a vessel's name is known this series can be used to
determine dates of arrival and hence can provide a means of access to the
fuller shipping information which is arranged chronologically by date of
arrival in Register of Shipping (VPRS
8005) above.
As well as those records summarised above other records of
the Melbourne Harbour Trust Commissioners (VA
2799); the Port of Melbourne (VA
1426); the Port of Geelong Authority, formerly Geelong Harbour Trust
Commissioners (VA
1425); the Port of Portland Authority, formerly the Portland Harbour Trust
Commissioners (VA
1427) and the Marine Board of Victoria (VA
1424) may be useful in researching ships and shipping movements.
Some Published Sources
Please note: these publications are not held at PROV
David Day, Smugglers and Sailors. The Customs History
of Australia 1788-1901, AGPS, Canberra, 1992. Chapters
18 and 19 deal with customs in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and
the Colony of Victoria.
Ian Nicholson, Log of Logs. A catalogue of logs,
journals, shipboard diaries, letters and all forms of voyage narratives,
1788-1988, for Australia and New Zealand and surrounding oceans, Roebuck
Society Publication No 41, 1989(?).
Ian Nicholson, Log of Logs. A catalogue of logs,
journals, shipboard diaries, letters and all forms of voyage narratives,
1788-1993, for Australia and New Zealand and surrounding oceans, Roebuck
Society Publication No 47, 1993.
Ian Nicholson, Log of Logs. A catalogue of logs,
journals, shipboard diaries, letters and all forms of voyage narratives,
1788-1998, for Australia and New Zealand and surrounding oceans, Roebuck
Society Publication No 52, 1999.
Marten Syme, Shipping arrivals and departures, Victorian
Ports, Volume 1: 1798-1845, Roebuck Society Publication No 32, Melbourne,
1984.
Marten Syme, Shipping arrivals and departures, Victorian
Ports, Volume 1: 1846-1855, Roebuck Society Publication No 39, Melbourne,
1989.
Michael Cannon and Ian Macfarlane (eds), Historical
Records of Victoria, Foundation Series, Volume 4: Communication,
Trade and Transport 1836-1839, Victorian Government Printer, Melbourne,
1985. See in particular “Part I, Shipping and Customs”, pages
3-252.
Photographs of ships
The Public Record Office does not have a collection of ship
photographs. Researchers trying to locate photographs of ships should
search the “Pictures Catalogue” at the State Library of Victoria (www.slv.vic.gov.au) or “Picture Australia”
(www.pictureaustralia.gov.au).
“Picture Australia” is an Internet based service developed by the
National Library of Australia that allows you to search a number of significant
online collections of images at the same time. When you undertake a
search using “Picture Australia”, you are in fact searching the
collections of the participating institutions.
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