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Koorie Heritage –
Koorie Family History Research at PROV

Click here for a PDF version (43k)

 

For researchers of Koorie family history, the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) collection holds a wealth of information.  Through PROV you can access a variety of records that hold information about the people, institutions and government of Victoria.  As the State's archival authority PROV holds records created by Victorian government departments and authorities, the State's courts, municipalities, schools, and other public offices.

 

The records date from the earliest days of the colonial administration of the Port Phillip District in the mid 1830s. They include information relating to areas of activity managed or regulated by government such as the administration of justice, health and welfare, education, land, planning, transport, and immigration.

 

The early official records, up to 1860, relating to the administration of Aboriginal affairs in Victoria are located at PROV.  The holdings are most extensive for the period 1839 to 1859, the period of the Chief Protector of Aborigines and his successor the Guardian of Aborigines.  For further information about these records researchers can consult PROVguide 67 Aboriginal Records at PROV and My Heart is Breaking: A joint guide to records about Aboriginal People in the Public Record Office of Victoria and Australian Archives, Victorian Regional Office (Australian Government Publishing Services, Canberra, 1993).  The records detailed in My Heart is Breaking provide a rich source of material for people interested in researching family or community history, or the history of interactions between government and Indigenous people in Victoria.  This publication is available for use in PROV Reading Rooms and in many local libraries around Victoria, and is available for purchase from PROV Reading Rooms. You can also print an order form from the Publications section of the Public Record Office Victoria website: www.prov.vic.gov.au/publications.

 

The publication Finding Your Story has been produced by Public Record Office Victoria, Aboriginal Affairs Victoria and the Victorian Koorie Records Taskforce as a reference tool for individual Indigenous Victorians seeking information on their separation from family and community.  Finding Your Story will also help organisations that assist the Stolen Generations on their journey of discovery and healing.  For information on how to obtain a copy visit Finding Your Story online at www.prov.vic.gov.au/findingyourstory or contact PROV on 1800 657 452 or ask.prov@dvc.vic.gov.au.

A Select List of Records for Koorie Family History Research

Births, Deaths & Marriages in Victoria (Microfiche Indexes & CD-ROM)

Consolidated Index to Births, Deaths and Marriages (Pioneer Index) 1837–1888

Index to Births 1853–1913

Index to Marriages 1853–1930

Index to Deaths 1853–1980

Index to Deaths 1921–1985

Inquest and Magisterial inquiries into accidental or unexplained deaths

Index to Inquest Deposition Files 1840–1985 (CD-ROM)

Index to Inquest Deposition Files 1986–1995

Inquest Deposition Files 1841–1995

Wills, Probate and Administration: records relating to the administration of deceased estates

Wills 1853–1995

Probate and Administration Files 1841–1995

Register of Wills (Transcripts) 1842–1922 (Microfilm)

Probate Index 1841–1992 (Microfiche)

Education: records of the Education Department and of individual schools

The following series often contain information on children and families:

 

Primary Schools Correspondence Files c. 1873–1962

Inward Registered Correspondence from High Schools, c. 1907–1960

 

Using PROV’s online catalogue you can search by school name for records of individual schools. 

 

For further information about Education records see PROVguide 56 Education Records.

 

See also:

Koorie People and Places Research Pathway

Getting Started Research Pathway

PROVguide 19 Registering and Maintaining a Public User Account

PROVguide 20 Searching for Records Online

PROVguide 21 Ordering Records  available from the Research Tools menu on PROV's online catalogue at www.access.prov.vic.gov.au

Crime, Law and Punishment: records of the courts, prisons and Law Department

Criminal Trial Briefs 1841–1927

Index to Criminal Trial Briefs 1841–1927 (Microfiche)

Capital Case Files 1852–1985

Central Register of Male Prisoners 1850–1948 (part closed)

Central Register of Female Prisoners 1857–1948 (part closed) (Microfiche)

Victorian Prisoner Index 1850–1900 (Microfiche)

Victorian Prisoner Index (Females) 1855–1918 (Microfiche)

Divorce Case Files 1861–1917

Divorce Index Victoria 1861–1924 (Microfiche)

 

Mental Health: records of mental health institutions (very few records of public hospitals are held)

Types of records held:

Admission Warrants

Registers of Patients/Admission Registers

Case Books (to 1912) and Patient Clinical Notes (from 1912)

Annual and Quinquennial Examination Registers

Trial Leave Registers

Discharge Registers

Nominal Registers of Patients

 

For records of individual institutions and for further information see PROVguide 59 Mental Health Records from the 1840s to around 1915.

 

Unless otherwise noted, all original records are available and may be ordered for viewing in PROV Reading Rooms. Records on microfilm, microfiche and CD-ROM formats are available for viewing at the Victorian Archives Centre and the Ballarat Archives Centre and do not need to be ordered.

Koorie Family History – Organisations and Online Resources

Koorie Heritage Trust – Koorie Family History Service

295 King Street

Melbourne Vic 3000

Tel (03) 8622 2600

Website www.koorieheritagetrust.com

Oral histories, family history, photographs, exhibitions, artwork, artefacts, library and education programs.

Link Up Victoria

139 Nicholson Street

East Brunswick  Vic 3057

Tel (03) 8388 1855

Website www.linkupvictoria.com.au

Family tracing, reunion, support and counselling assistance for Aboriginal people removed from their families as children.

Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)

Family History Unit

GPO Box 553

Canberra ACT 2601

Tel 1800 730 129

Website www.aiatsis.gov.au

Free assistance for people with Indigenous heritage to do family history research.

Stolen Generations Victoria

391 St Georges Road

North Fitzroy Vic 3085

Tel (03) 9486 6122

Website www.stolengenerationsvictoria.org.au

Supporting and addressing the needs of people affected by practices and policies of removing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from family, community, country and culture.

Adoption and Family Records Service

Level 20, 570 Bourke Street

Melbourne Vic 3000

Tel (03) 8608 5700 (Melbourne metropolitan)

Tel 1300 769 926 (Tollfree in Australia)

Website www.office-for-children.vic.gov.au, and navigate to, Placement and Support, and then, the Adoption and Family Records Service.

Assistance for access to Victorian adoption and state wardship records, support and counselling for those who have been adopted and for their adoptive and birth parents, or for those who are former State Wards.

Registry of Birth, Deaths & Marriages

Transport House

589 Collins Street

Melbourne Vic 3001

Tel 1300 369 367

Website www.dvc.vic.gov.au/bdm.htm

State Library of Victoria

328 Swanston Street

Melbourne Vic 3000

Tel (03) 8664 7000

Website www.slv.vic.gov.au

Genealogy Centre, pictorial collection (photographs) and Aboriginal bibliography.

Bunjilaka

Melbourne Museum

Carlton Gardens, Carlton Victoria

GPO Box 666E

Melbourne Vic 3001

Tel 13 11 02 (within Victoria)

Tel (03) 8341 7777

Website www.melbourne.museum.vic.gov.au/bunjilaka/index.asp

Family history service, Tindale genealogies, exhibitions, photographs, artwork and artefacts.