Ballarat Banking Company 1921, 1922, 1923 & 1924 Accounts
In order to graze horses and cattle on the Ballarat Common owners were required to register their stock brands. The owners gave descriptions of animals and named a responsible person to be contacted if the animal strayed. Besides the names of the owners, it is interesting to read what details were noted in the column residence. While most of the localities would be within the rural district of Ballarat, many are from further afield, such as Castlemaine, Geelong, Maryborough, Melbourne, Sandhurst, Tarrangower and Warrnambool. This entry for central Ballarat is an exception. One brown cow which 'ought to have a calf at foot' was owned by Wm WEST at the Ballarat Camp 40th Regiment. These are early days with many challenges for the clerks so expect the spelling of names and places to be creative.
There are 562 entries with the first recorded in May 1855 so some precede the proclamation of Ballaarat as a municipality on 18 December 1855. The bulk of the entries end in the early 1860s but there are some isolated entries up to the early 1870s and one aberration in 1876.
To see a listing of brand records on file, see our Index Listings Data Index Listing
VPRS 552/P0 Unit 6 Dawson v Dawson 1915 listing 18 documents
VPRS 552/P0 consists of 23 boxes of divorce case files heard at the Ballarat Courts dating from 1890 to 1958, but not all are open to researchers.
The first 8 boxes with a date range 1890 to 1924 account for 200 files and have now been indexed by volunteers from the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society.
From 1925 to 1958 the Ballarat divorce records were closed to view but as at July 2016 the years 1925 to 1935 are now on Open Access. The Society does not need to index this decade because we have been advised that it is searchable by surname of the Petitioner. When ordering on the PROV website type in the VPRS number 552 and instead of the Unit number, type the surname in that box.
Refer to the following index which gives the names of the petitioner for the divorce, the respondent, any co-respondents to the petition, the year of the divorce and the case number assigned by the Court.
This index also gives the series (VPRS) and the box (unit) in which the record is found.
Researchers will need to order the series and the unit and look for the record by its case number, e.g., VPRS 552/P0, Unit 8 (and the file will be found in numerical order).
To see a listing of divorce records on file, see our Index Listings Data Index Listing
VPRS 1382/P0 consists of three boxes of records relating to residence areas held under miners' rights. They are housed at the Ballarat Archives Centre, Public Record Office Victoria and are entitled Applications for Residence and Business Areas and Claims, Ballarat District, Central Division, date range 1871-1914.
The records exist as a result of the 1865 and subsequent Mines Acts whereby the holder of a miner's right could hold up to one acre of land on a goldfield area on which to reside.
VPRS 1382/P0 consists of the following records, all of which have been indexed by volunteers from the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society:
Unit 1: Five volumes of application forms:
Applications for Residence and Business Areas Nos 8405-8597: 1871-1871
Applications for Residence and Business Areas Nos 8603-8798: 1871-1871
Applications for Residence and Business Areas Nos 8802-8998: 1871-1872
Applications for Residence and Business Areas Nos 10504-10702: 1881-1881
Applications for Residence and Business Areas Nos 23106-23305: 1897-1897
Unit 2: Two foolscap sized bound volumes:
Liens on Residence Areas Nos 2089-2138: 1913-1913
Liens on Residence Areas Nos 2159-2258: 1913-1914
Unit 3: Two volumes:
Form of Transfer Residence Areas Nos 22363-22564: 1898-1899
Certificate of Applications for Claims Nos 3358-3457: 1881-1882
Click below to access the Miners Killed 1874 - 1885 index.
In February 2016 John Barrett donated to the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society a document collection in the name of his father Roy Clifford BARRETT (1913-2005) son of William BARRETT and Laura May (CHIBNALL) of Ballarat, and husband of Edna Mary (KELSO). These documents, dating from 1858 to 1934, have been in the family for six generations and will be on permanent loan to the Society to display and to share with others. In the process of cleaning out the family home for sale the value of these historical documents was recognised and we agreed to take good care of them as important items in our collection which is housed in the Australiana Research Room at Ballarat Central Library.