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Record series

Historic Mine and Infrastructure Plans

VPRS 16163
1819 - 2011
Open
North Melbourne
About Record items Record groupings Related record series Related functions

Agencies

This record series was created by:
Colonial Secretary's Office ( VA856 ): 1853 - 1855
Geological Survey of Victoria ( VA4118 ): 1853 - 1989
Chief Secretary's Department ( VA475 ): 1855 - 1860
Department of Mines (also known as the Mining Department) ( VA2719 ): 1860 - 1895
Department of Mines and Water Supply ( VA2720 ): 1895 - 1909
Mines Department (also known as Department of Mines and Mining Department) ( VA612 ): 1909 - 1977
Department of Minerals and Energy ( VA611 ): 1977 - 1985
Department of Industry, Technology and Resources ( VA2661 ): 1985 - 1989
Agencies responsible for this record series:
Geological Survey of Victoria ( VA 4118 ): 2022 - present

Date Range

Series date range: 1819 - 2011
Series in custody: 1819 - 2011
Contents in custody: 1819 - 2011

Function / Content

This series comprises a collection of plans of mines and infrastructure projects generated by Geological Survey Victoria (VA 4118) as evidence of activities or evidence acquired from external workers in the geological, minerals, extractive, petroleum and other associated sectors. 

The plans are either preparatory (i.e. what geology was likely to be found), or construction (i.e. what geology was found).  The collection contains plans and sections prepared from survey of mine workings, and other infrastructure plans containing the following information: 
  • Geology – both at a mine and regional scale
  • Drilling – e.g. bore location plans and geological sections through boreholes
  • Geochemistry
  • Geophysics
  • Mining Titles
  • Topography
  • Locations of features such as shallow and deep leads, areas of alluvial workings, tailings dumps, quartz reefs, mine shafts, mine plants, landfill sites and mine subsidence areas
  • Cadastral survey and traverse lines
  • Mineral localities
  • Mineral resource areas
  • Technical drawings of equipment and office floor plans
The Geological Survey Office Victoria began a systematic survey of Central Victoria and it’s surroundings, leading to an informal map collection termed ‘Quarter Sheets’ found within this series. Using existing cadastral maps as a base, the geologists created large maps with annotations including geological notes, sometimes on the map itself or in the left or right margins. Many of these records are available to access digitally through the Earth Resources Publications website.  

Some common abbreviations found throughout the collection include:
  • Bendigo Mines Limited (BML)
  • No Liability (NL)
  • Map Number (M5)
  • Unpublished Report (UR)
  • Exploration Licence (EL)
  • Country Road Board (CRB)
  • Lead (Pb)
  • Copper (Cu)
  • Molybdenum (Mo)
  • Zinc (Zn)

How to use the records

Some plans in this series can be accessed using VPRS 16164 for the Index to Historic Mine Plans in Alphabetical Order by Name of Mine and VPRS 16165 for the Index to Historic Mine Plans in Alphabetical order by Parish Name.

Where items do not have an associated identification number, consult the list of records in this series and search using a mine number, mine name, a company name, author of the plan, mine location (by parish name or region), line of reef, GEDIS ID, Map ID or other terms.

A booklet of geological abbreviations and legend to Bendigo Mines Limited (BML) plans is included within the series. 

Recordkeeping system

As this series is comprised of a wide variety of historic mine and infrastructure plans, where a system has been identified, it has been recorded.

In some cases, plans were assigned an identification number derived from basic information gathered from the plans including plan content, author, scale and year of production. This information was also recorded in two card index systems that were created to provide access to the plans. See VPRS 16164 for the Index to Historic Mine Plans in Alphabetical Order by Name of Mine and VPRS 16165 for the Index to Historic Mine Plans in Alphabetical order by Parish Name.

Plans of the same subject were given the same number, followed by a letter obtained from the list below:
- A – Underground workings, plan and section of the same sheet
- B – Shows surface data and underground workings
- C – Composite plans of levels
- D – Drilling plan
- E – Engineering equipment
- F – Received from other departments
- G – Geological map
- H – Housing
- L – Longitudinal section
- M – Miscellaneous (eg. Topographic map)
- P – Plan of individual level
- S – Section (other than longitudinal or transverse, but including those made as a result of drilling)
- T – Transverse section
- U to Z – preceding the base number indicated the size of the map or plan

The result is an identification number that appears as “518/G/5”.  In this example, the number 518 corresponds to the specific geographical area of Ballarat.  The letter “G” serves as a code for the content type, which is a geological map.  The number five (5) indicates the sequential order denoting this is the fifth geological map produced for Ballarat.

Where borehole and other data was added to base maps, a plan identification number will refer to the base map used.  For example, “Buffalo 8224/55” denotes the region of “Buffalo”, the map number “8224” and the zone “55”.

An internal reference database was introduced to Geological Survey Victoria in the mid-1980s, known as the GEDIS Reference Database, as part of a digitisation program for physical assets. Where records in this series were registered in the system and were assigned a unique reference ID, this is listed against items as an identification number.

The database was not suitable for transfer to the Public Record Office Victoria as an electronic record. However, a copy of the data in the database was used as a source of the descriptive information of the plans and maps in the consignment details.

Access to digitised versions of some maps in this series can be found using the Earth Resources Publications website or ordered through the PROV catalogue. 

Before coming into the custody of Public Record Office Victoria, this series was held at the Geological Survey of Victoria (GSV) Drill Core Library at Werribee.  Maps allocated a [Bendigo GSV] number were transferred to the GSV Drill Core Library at Werribee from the GSV Bendigo Division.