Record series
Kelly Historical Collection - Part 2 Crown Law Department
VPRS 4966
1880 - 1882
Not set
North Melbourne
Agencies
This record series was created by:
Agencies responsible for this record series: Department of Justice ( VA 3085 ): 1992 - present
Date Range
Series date range: 1880 - 1882
Series in custody:
1880 - 1882
Contents in custody:
1880 - 1882
Function / Content
This series consists of Crown Law Department records concerning the trial for murder and execution of Edward Kelly and the trial of Ellen Kelly. The records in this series were originally created and maintained within the record keeping systems documented in the PROV Collection as VPRS 30 and 264 and it is believed the records in the P0 consignment were received during 1939 as part of the transfer which included all of the criminal trial briefs created in 1880.The exceptions to this are the Capital Case File in unit 2 which was transferred to PROV in 1977 and the Cameron letter in unit 3 which is actually from the inward correspondence files of the Chief Secretary's Department and which ideally should be maintaind in VPRS 4967.
The P1 consignment consists of the Copy Depositions for one of the two cases against Kelly, that of the murder of Constables Lonigan and Scanlon. It appears the documents were detached from that series prior to the formation of the Public Record Office Victoria and were subsequently obtained by a private collector. These documents were purchased at auction 13 October, 2003.
How to use the records
Access to the records in this series is either through the microfilm copy or via digital images. Due to the historical value of the records, access to the hardcopy originals is closed.The microfilm copy of this series can be accessed in Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) Reading Rooms as Reel 2 of VPRS 6888 Kelly Historical Collection [Microfilm Copies of VPRS 4965, 4966, 4967, 4968, 4969].
This series has been digitised and is available online. Access to the digitised records is available via the physical records details pages.
Recordkeeping system
The original records are held in the P0 and P1 consignments of this series, and are arranged in an imposed order, which is roughly chronological as held since their transfer to the archives. Given the lengthy separation of these files from their original context (compounded by gaps within the indexes for the material), an imposed series of "Crown Law Department" records has been created. Individual items have been placed in folders which have been numbered sequentially by the archivists responsible for their listing.Copies of these records have been created by PROV. In all instances, these copies retain the folder order imposed by the archives via the folders.
A microfilm copy of these records was created in the early 1980's for use in PROV Reading Rooms, which is located in VPRS 6888 Kelly Historical Collection [Microfilm Copies of VPRS 4965, 4966, 4967, 4968, 4969]. VPRS 4966 contains low-resolution, digitised copies of records held within that series, which can be accessed online via the physical records details pages. High-resolution copies are located in VPRS 15055 Kelly Historical Collection: Part 2 Crown Law Department [Digitised Series - Archival Quality Master].
