Record series
Assay Registers
VPRS 19302
1898 - 1944
Open
North Melbourne
Agencies
This record series was created by:
Department of Mines and Water Supply ( VA2720 ): 1898 - 1909
Geological Survey of Victoria ( VA4118 ): 1898 - 1944
Agencies responsible for this record series: Geological Survey of Victoria ( VA 4118 ): 2022 - present
Date Range
Series date range: 1898 - 1944
Series in custody:
1898 - 1944
Contents in custody:
1898 - 1944
Function / Content
This series comprises bound volumes recording assay analyses undertaken by the laboratories of Geological Survey Victoria (VA 4118) and the Mines Department (VA 612).An assay is a chemical analysis used to determine the proportion of metallic (gold, silver, copper, etc.) or non- metallic (sulphur, phosphorus, etc.) elements in a sample. It is also used to determine the quality and purity of the ore or precious metal and identify pollutants or impurities. Geological samples were collected by individuals, businesses, or government departments from sites across Victoria, and included brown and black coal, quartz, tailings, bore water, mine air, rock, silt, and clay.
Samples were then sent to the Mines Department, accompanied by the required correspondence detailing the sender’s name and address, the type of material to be assayed, the locality in which the material was collected, and the nature of treatment required – for example ‘assay for gold’, or ‘full analysis’. Once delivered to the Department, the correspondence received a number for recordkeeping purposes, and was forwarded on to the laboratory.
Once the analysis was complete, a copy of the results was recorded in the Assay Register. Often, they were transcribed directly, however in many instances they were handwritten or, later, a typed transfer copy of the original report, stuck to the page or as a loose-leaf insert. In later volumes, the copied reports match the originals within the series VPRS 19143 Assay Reports. The date the report was received and the date a copy was forwarded to whomever requested it was also captured in the Assay Register.
Recordkeeping system
This series forms part of a larger departmental recordkeeping system, managing the receipt of assay samples in and dissemination of assay reports out.Samples were initially sent to the Department (known as the Department of Mines and Water Supply and subsequently the Mines Department) and recorded in the Assay Register (this series), where the next assay number was assigned in sequence, re-starting with each new year. The sample was then sent to the Department’s Laboratory where the assay treatment and results were recorded in the Laboratory Register of Assays (VPRS 19304). A copy of the results was sent back to the Department to be recorded in the Assay Register this series) and sent on the original sample sender. The Laboratory also recorded the assay results in the Classification of Assays (VPRS 19305), which was a control record for the Laboratory Register of Assays indexed by sample type. As of 1908, Assay Sample Books (VPRS 19303) were created by laboratories to record the receiving of samples as well as when the reports were sent back to the Department.
It appears that from 1944 the recordkeeping system changed and the bound volumes of assay reports in VPRS 19143 superseded and replaced both VPRS 19304 and VPRS 19302.
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.
