Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is the government archives of the Australian State of Victoria. PROV was created by the Victorian Public Records Act 1973 [1] with responsibility for the better preservation management and utilisation of the public records of the State. It is an agency of the Department of Government Services. [2]
Prior to 1903 there was no formal attempt to deposit Victorian government records with an archival authority. In that year ten volumes of Convict Indents were transferred to the Public Library (later the State Library of Victoria) by the Secretary of the Law Department. In 1928 following a board of Inquiry into 'Methods in the Public Service,' a circular was issued conveying the Premier's Instruction that no documents were to be destroyed without reference to the Public Library Trustees [3] . The first archivist was appointed to the staff of the Public Library in 1948. In 1955 a Senior Archivist was appointed and a separate Archives Section was established in 1961. The Library Council of Victoria Act 1965 introduced the first, though brief, legislative provisions for the control and preservation of public records in Victoria.
The Public Records Act came into effect on 17 April 1973. The Laverton Base Repository was acquired in 1975 and developed to ultimately house approximately 80 kilometres of public records and to provide a facility for public research. The holdings, based on the records transferred from the Archives Division of the State Library of Victoria, grew through an active transfer program. A reading room in the Melbourne CBD was established and a regional repository to serve the Victorian Central Highlands Region was established at Ballarat in 1982.
The purpose built Victorian Archives Centre (VAC) was designed and constructed in North Melbourne and all Melbourne based activities of PROV were transferred there, including the complete holdings from the Laverton Base Repository, by 2004. The VAC reading room is named after the first Keeper of Public Records, Harry Nunn OAM, [4] and is a facility shared by PROV with the Melbourne Office of National Archives of Australia. Researchers can thus access archives of both the Victorian and Australian governments in the one reading room. The VAC repository has a potential capacity of over 120 kilometres of shelf space.
The Public Records Act established the Public Record Office, the position of Keeper of Public Records and the Public Records Advisory Council. Subject to the general control and direction of the Minister responsible for the Public Record Office, the Keeper exercises the powers and responsibilities defined in the Act. The role of the Advisory Council is, in consultation with the Keeper, to promote cooperation between PROV and public offices and to report or make recommendations to the Minister.
The Office's structure reflects the two broad areas of responsibility defined in the Act, that is, a role in providing leadership and services in records management for Victorian public offices, and the preservation of and provision of access to the State's archives.
The Keeper of Public Records is able to establish standards for the management [6] of public records and a large proportion of the Office's resources are dedicated to meeting obligations in this area. Of particular significance is the pioneering Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS).
The Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) is a standard that addresses the problem of capturing, managing and preserving electronic records. [7] The standard is set by the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV).
The other main arm of the Office is dedicated to preservation and access. Access to public records is both by traditional delivery of original records to individual researchers in PROV reading rooms and through innovative physical and online publications, exhibitions, public programs, databases and reproductions of public records.
A number of approved places of deposit have been established throughout the state under the Public Records Act. [8]
With some exceptions PROV's holdings date from 1836 when Captain William Lonsdale was appointed as Police Magistrate and a formal government presence in the Port Phillip District of the Colony of New South Wales, as Victoria was then known, was established. PROV's holdings include most 19th and 20th century central correspondence systems for major Victorian public offices as well as records of:
Records associated with both the Kelly Gang outbreak and the Eureka Stockade uprising are available online [6] and have been added to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register. [9]
Members of the public can contribute to their knowledge of Victorian history to the Public Record Office Victoria's Wiki, through editing articles, uploading and transcribing digitized images of records.
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The Public Record Office, Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission to form The National Archives, based in Kew. It was under the control of the Master of the Rolls, a senior judge. The Public Record Office still exists as a legal entity, as the enabling legislation has not been modified.
Cadastral divisions in Victoria are called counties, which are further subdivided into parishes and townships, for cadastral or land administration purposes. Cadastral divisions of county, parish and township form the basis for formal identification of the location of any piece of land in the state. There are 37 counties and 2004 parishes and 909 townships. Parishes were subdivided into sections of various sizes for sale as farming allotments, or designated as a town and then divided into sections and these subdivided into crown allotments. However, many parishes do not follow county borders, some being located in more than one county.
State Library Victoria (SLV) is the state library of Victoria, Australia. Located in Melbourne, it was established in 1854 as the Melbourne Public Library, making it Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world. It is also Australia's busiest public library and, as of 2023, the third busiest library globally.
Altona is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 13 km (8.1 mi) south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona recorded a population of 11,490 at the 2021 census.
The West Gate Freeway is a major freeway in Melbourne, the busiest urban freeway and the busiest road in Australia, carrying upwards of 200,000 vehicles per day. It links Geelong and Melbourne's western suburbs to central Melbourne and beyond. It is also a link between Melbourne and the west and linking industrial and residential areas west of the Yarra River with the city and port areas. The West Gate Bridge is a part of the freeway.
The National Archives of Australia (NAA), formerly known as the Commonwealth Archives Office and Australian Archives, is an Australian Government agency that serves as the national archives of the nation. It collects, preserves and encourages access to important Commonwealth government records.
Records management, also known as records and information management, is an organizational function devoted to the management of information in an organization throughout its life cycle, from the time of creation or receipt to its eventual disposition. This includes identifying, classifying, storing, securing, retrieving, tracking and destroying or permanently preserving records. The ISO 15489-1: 2001 standard defines records management as "[the] field of management responsible for the efficient and systematic control of the creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records, including the processes for capturing and maintaining evidence of and information about business activities and transactions in the form of records".
The Old Treasury Building on Spring Street in Melbourne is a grand Renaissance Revival public building, built in 1858-62, terminating the vista up Collins Street. It was built to house the Treasury Department, various government officials, the Governor In Council, and basement vaults intended to house gold from the Victorian gold rush. It now houses a range of functions, including a museum of Melbourne history, known as Old Treasury Building Museum.
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state, with a land area of 227,444 km2 (87,817 sq mi); the second-most-populated state, with a population of over 6.7 million; and the most densely populated state in Australia. Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north and South Australia to the west and is bounded by the Bass Strait to the south, the Great Australian Bight portion of the Southern Ocean to the southwest, and the Tasman Sea to the southeast. The state encompasses a range of climates and geographical features from its temperate coastal and central regions to the Victorian Alps in the northeast and the semi-arid northwest.
The National Archives of Ireland is the official repository for the state records of Ireland. Established by the National Archives Act 1986, taking over the functions of the State Paper Office and the Public Record Office of Ireland. In 1991, the National Archives moved to its current premises in Bishop Street, Dublin. The Archives stand on the site of the Jacob's Factory, one of the garrisons held by rebels during the 1916 Easter Rising.
The State Archives and Records Authority of New South Wales is the archives and records management authority of the Government of New South Wales in Australia. It can trace its history back to the establishment of the office of Colonial Secretary and Registrar of the Records of New South Wales in 1821. However, in the early years of the Colony's history, little attention was paid to the management and preservation of non-current public records. This was mainly because the government of the day was fully focussed on the administration of the convict system, law and order, immigration and land settlement. Documents which were not required for the day-to-day running of the government were usually neglected or were destroyed.
This article highlights the timeline of the establishment of the State Records Authority of New South Wales.
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The M80 Ring Road is a partially complete urban freeway ring road around Melbourne, Australia. This article will deal with the entire length of the corridor for sake of completion, as well to avoid confusion between declarations.
The Central Road Board was the first dedicated body for administering the construction of roads and bridges in Victoria, Australia. It came into being in 1853 when the Victorian Legislative Council passed An Act for making, and improving Roads in the Colony of Victoria, known as the Roads Act.
Phyllis Mander-Jones MBE was an Australian born librarian and archivist who helped establish the archival profession in Australia.
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Thea Melvie Exley was an Australian archivist and art historian, and the first woman to head a regional office of the Australian Commonwealth Archives Office. She was also its first national Senior Archivist Reference and Access and the first Director Preservation at the Australian Archives. Exley was an inaugural member of the Australian Society of Archivists and served as a Councillor from 1977 to 1979.
Eltham District Historical Society is a community organisation devoted to the collection, preservation and sharing of stories about the local history of the Eltham district in the north east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its geographic area of interest extends from Lower Plenty and Montmorency to Kangaroo Ground. It also maintains an interest in the former Shire of Eltham and holds memorabilia from the former Eltham Shire Council. It is located in the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. It also encourages conservation of significant places, spaces and documents for future generations. It is an affiliated member of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and the Association of Eastern Historical Societies. It is an historical society managed by volunteers.
