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Transport – Public Transport – Tramways
Melbourne and Suburbs
In the period up to 1919, private enterprise and/or local
government in conjunction with the State Government developed and operated the
tramway network in metropolitan Melbourne. In January 1919 Royal Assent
was given to the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Act, No. 2995. This
act brought into being the Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB).
The act gave the Board the authority to assume control of all Melbourne
tramways. Over the next 5 years the various tramways operating in Melbourne
were integrated into the MMTB operations.
The Board continued to operate the system until 1983 when
the government of the day amalgamated metropolitan rail and train services
under the Metropolitan Transit Authority (VA
1044). In 1925 the Board began operating bus services.
The Records
Records held by Public Record Office Victoria are those that
were created by the different tramway boards, companies and trusts and
transferred in the late 1980s. The records relate, in the main, to the
Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board. The records of other tramways
bodies are those that were inherited by the Board and still held at the time of
transfer.
The records document the development of the tramway system
and the management and operation of the individual tramway bodies. On the
management/operational side there are some records that document staff employed
by the bodies. It should be noted that the records of each body do not
cover each of these areas. For example there are no employment records
for the Hawthorn or Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trusts. The following
provides a summary of the board types of records held by Public Record Office Victoria
for each body.
·
Melbourne Tramways and Omnibus Company Limited 1877 – 1919
(VA
2976)
[Accounting; Construction; Contracts; Director’s reports; Employee;
Engineering]
·
Melbourne Tramways Trust 1884 – 1916 (VA
2692)
[Accounting; Correspondence; Contracts; Minutes]
·
North Melbourne Electric Tramways and Lighting Company 1904
– 1922 (VA
2974)
[Correspondence; General subject files]
·
Prahran and Malvern Tramways Trust 1907 – 1920 (VA
2977)
[Accounting; Construction; Correspondence; Minutes]
·
Hawthorn Tramways Trust 1914 – 1920 (VA
2978)
[Accounting; Construction; Correspondence; General subject files; Minutes]
·
Melbourne, Brunswick and Coburg Tramways 1914 – 1920 (VA
2971)
[Accounting; Correspondence; Employee; Minutes]
·
Fitzroy, Northcote and Preston Tramways Trust 1915 – 1920 (VA
2972)
[Accounting; Correspondence; Minutes]
·
Footscray Tramways Trust 1916 – 1920 (VA
2973)
[Accounting; Correspondence; Minutes]
·
Northcote Municipality Cable Tramways 1916-1920 (VA
520)
[Accounting; Operations]
·
Tramways Board 1916 – 1919 (VA
2693)
[Accounting; Employee; Minutes; Reports]
·
Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board 1919 – 1983 (VA
2694)
[Accounting; Contracts; Correspondence; Employee; Minutes]
Some Relevant Record Series
·
Tramways Employees Record Book 1885 – 1924 (VPRS
12738)
This series has self-indexed volumes
·
Register of Employee Vacations 1912 – 1916 (VPRS
7888)
·
Employment History Cards of Tramways and Bus Employees c1910-
1983 (VPRS
12741)
·
Employee Service Register: Northern System 1916 – 1922 (VPRS
7922)
·
List of Employees Enlisted for Active Service (1914-1918) (VPRS
7894)
It is recommended that researchers consult the series
descriptions on PROV’s
Online Catalogue to access information about these series.
Country Victoria
Tramways are known to have operated in Ballarat, Bendigo and
Geelong. Initially these systems were developed and operated by private
enterprise in Geelong and Bendigo whilst the Ballarat system was operated by
the Ballarat City Council before being taken over by private enterprise.
During the 1930s these systems were acquired by the State Electricity
Commission of Victoria (VA
1002). The Commission continued to operate the systems until 1956
when the Geelong network closed, followed by the closure of the Ballarat and Bendigo
systems in 1971 and 1972 respectively.
Few records of the country systems have survived.
Within the State Electricity Commission of Victoria series, Alpha-Numeric Correspondence
Files (Supply Registry) (VPRS
9817/P1) are two files relating to the Ballarat and Bendigo tramways.
The Public Record Office Victoria’s Ballarat Archives Centre holds a
Ballarat Tramways Wages Book 1902 – 1918 (VPRS
3599).
Geelong Historical Records Centre holds two series that
relate to the Geelong tramways.
Geelong Tramways : Geelong street tram construction papers
1914-1916 (GRS 300)
State Electricity Commission - Geelong : News cuttings books
- tramways 1906-1919 (GRS 498).
Tramway Photographs
The Public Record Office Victoria holds a collection of
Tramway photographic images. A project is underway to place these images
online. Researchers can consult PROVguide 69
Public Transport Corporation Photographic Collection Online.
Researchers can also search the “Pictures
Catalogue” at the State Library of Victoria (www.slv.vic.gov.au) or “Picture Australia”
(www.pictureaustralia.org ).
“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.
Published Sources
The following is a brief list of published sources on Melbourne
tramways that may be useful to researchers. Please note: these
resources are not held at PROV.
Cranston, Jack, 1988, The Melbourne Cable Trams
1885-1940, Craftsman Publishing, Melbourne.
Fiddian, Marc, 1993, Clang Clang Clang : a Study of
Melbourne’s Tramways, Pakenham Gazette, Pakenham, Victoria.
Green, Robert, 1989, The First Electric Road:
a History of the Box Hill and Doncaster Tramway, John Mason
Press, East Brighton, Victoria.
Keating, J.D., 1970, Mind the Curve!, Melbourne University
Press, Melbourne.
Metropolitan Transit Authority 1985, 100 Years of Melbourne’s
Trams, Melbourne Transit Authority, Melbourne, Victoria.
O’Neil, David J., 1994, History of the Geelong
Electric Tramways 1912-1956, self-published, Geelong, Victoria.
The Journal of the Tramway Museum Society of Victoria,
Running Journal has been published since 1964 and contains many useful
articles. The Society’s website can be found at www.tmsv.org.au.