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Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) is the government archives of the Australian
State of Victoria
Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state i ...
. PROV was created by the Victorian Public Records Act 1973
with responsibility for the better preservation management and utilization of the public records of the State. It is an agency of the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
History
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 ensuing years, reinforced by a 1927 instruction to departments from the Premier that no documents be destroyed without reference to the trustees of the Public Library, a substantial archival collection of Victorian public records was created. 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
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
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
North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...
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,
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.
Senior Archivists and Keepers of Public Records
* 1948 Donald Baker, first Archivist at the Public Library of Victoria
* 1949 Rosemary McGowan, Archivist
[
* 1951 Patricia Ingham, Archivist][
* 1955 Harry Nunn, Senior Archivist][
* 1973 Harry Nunn, Keeper of Public Records][
* 1981 Chris Hurley, Keeper of Public Records][
* 1990 Loretta Hambly, Keeper of Public Records][
* 1992 Ross Gibbs, Keeper of Public Records
* 2004 Justine Heazlewood, Keeper of Public Records
]
Structure
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 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.[
] 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.Public Records in Victorian Communities
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The Collection
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
The Port Phillip District was an administrative division of the Colony of New South Wales from 9 September 1836 until 1 July 1851, when it was separated from New South Wales and became the Colony of Victoria.
In September 1836, NSW Colonial Sec ...
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:
* courts, tribunals, Royal Commissions etc.
* municipalities and other local governing bodies
* statutory authorities such as the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (Wikipedia link) and the State Bank of Victoria (Wikipedia link)
* police, prisons and health and welfare institutions
* education, immigration, Aboriginal affairs, Crown land, infrastructure
* etc.
Records associated with both the Kelly
Kelly may refer to:
Art and entertainment
* Kelly (Kelly Price album)
* Kelly (Andrea Faustini album)
* ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap
* "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland
* ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...
Gang outbreak and the Eureka Stockade
The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which ...
uprising are available online[ and have been added to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.]
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.
Notes
External links
PROV home page
PROVWiki
PROV Annual Reports
VERS
Archive locations
History of PROV: A short history of PROV and the early years of Victorian archives were published in Volume 1, issues No 1 and 2 of PROVENANCE, the Journal of Public Record Office Victoria
Public Record Office Victoria (State Archives of Victoria, Australia) at Google Cultural Institute
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Archives in Australia
Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA)
History of Victoria (Australia)