What's new in 2022: December

New records added to our collection over the course of the last few months include Kilmore District Health Board Minutes 1856-present, Borough of Wonthaggi records, Moreland Council voter rolls, National Gallery correspondence 1943-1976, Royal Melbourne Hospital records, Smythesdale Cemetery Trust records, Hansard records and Probate records from 2019-2020. These are now available for researchers to view in our North Melbourne reading room. 

Kilmore District Health Board of Management Minutes

Kilmore Hospital, Victoria’s second oldest district hospital, was opened in 1860 serving Kilmore and the surrounding districts.  Twenty volumes of Board of Management Minutes, dating as far back as 1856 prior to the community raising funds for the hospital build, have been added to our collection and are available to order and view in the North Melbourne reading room. View the Kilmore record series page.

Royal Melbourne Hospital records

Records from Royal Melbourne Hospital and its predecessor hospitals dating 1859-2002 have recently been transferred to our collection and are available to order and view in the North Melbourne reading room. Some highlights include Nursing graduate record cards (VPRS 18937), Medical Ward Books, Case Notes (VPRS 12477) (date range 1879 – 1904), Patient Registers and Case Records (VPRS 18933), Secretary’s and Manager’s Subject Correspondence Files (VA 18967), and minutes and papers of the Brunswick Sheltered Workshops (VPRS 18917). 

The nursing graduate record cards in particular will be of great interest to any researchers with connections to a Melbourne-based nurse of the 1950s or 1960s. The cards contain name, dates of training and hospitals attended, grades, summary of performance, exams passed, next of kin information, physical description and a photo. a snapshot of the first box in the series (there are three in total) can be found below. They are filed alphabetically. Also below is a snapshot of the patient register and a full breakdown of all series now available as part of this new transfer.  

National Gallery of Victoria correspondence of former Chairman of NGV Trustees (Leonard Cox)

New to our collection are various correspondence, letters and notes created by Dr. Leonard Cox, former Chairman of the Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). The series includes various records Cox created in his role as Chairman, as well as member of the Council of Trustees, Trustee representative to the Cultural Centre Building Committee, Felton Bequests’ Committee member and Oriental Arts Curator/Consultant. The records were found amongst Cox’s estate donated to the NGV archives by his family prior to transfer and date from 1943 to 1976.

Particularly interesting is the report below by the Director of the NGV and architect to the building committee providing a summary of investigations made in Europe and America during 1960. the pair traveled to various galleries around the world over a period of three months including the Uffizzi Museum in Florence, Guggenheim in New York and Royal Festival Hall in London, among many others. They reported that: 

"On the eve of our return to Australia, we believe that we are now better equipped to assist or advise you through the next stage of the design of your building, and we hope that this report presents some indication of the sources of our confidence."  

The report goes on to provide detail and photographs of each gallery and museum visited providing a fascinating resource into gallery design of the time. 

Access the NGV records on the series page here.

Smythesdale Cemetery Trust records

The Smythesdale Cemetery Trust was established in 1860 and manages the Smythesdale Cemetery. The cemetery was established around 1859 and is located at 1920 Glenelg Highway, Scarsdale. Records include cemetery plans that show the locations of graves for each section of the cemetery including burial plots reserved for the Church of England, Presbyterian Church, Roman Catholic Church and the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
 

Items from VPRS 19140/C1 Cemetery Plans, VPRS 19141/C1 Receipt Books and VPRS 19142/C1 will also be digitised and made available for viewing on the PROV catalogue in the near future so stay tuned for that!

Borough of Wonthaggi records

The Borough of Wonthaggi was created in January 1911 under the Wonthaggi Borough Act 1910 and abolished in 1994, absorbed into the newly created Bass Coast Shire. Property and rate records from 1911 to 1994 have been added to our collection and are available to order and view in the reading room.
 

Hansard (Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council)

Also new to our collection are volumes of parliamentary debates, known as Hansard, of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. The volumes span the 57th Parliament of Victoria from 2010 to 2014. You can access the Legislative Assembly records here and Legislative Council records here. 
 

Moreland Council Voter Rolls

Certified Voters’ Rolls created by Moreland City Council and Brunswick City Council have been transferred to our collection. You can find the Moreland records here and the Brunswick ones here.

Probate records 2019-2020

Probate records contain documents received or created by the Supreme Court certifying the deceased’s will’s validity and confirming the appointment of an Executor to administer the estate. Letters of Administration is the Court's approval to administer the estate of a person who dies without a will. In most instances Letters of Administration will be granted to the next of kin of the deceased e.g. a spouse, domestic partner or a child of the deceased. 
Probate records from 2020, and 2019 records finalised in 2020, have now been added to our collection. These are available for copy requests or to order for viewing in our North Melbourne reading room. 

You can search the collection on our wills and probates topic page.