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What do I need to know?

Any locations or subjects of interest, and / or approximate dates relating to the roads, construction projects or road incidents you are researching.

 

How do I search?

Enter a keyword and / or a date range into the search below. In addition to specific roads and locations, you can also try searching subjects relating to roads, for example, safety, or accidents.

For a more exact search use inverted commas on multi-word search terms, for example, "Great Ocean Road" , "Princes Highway" or "Black Spur".

On the search results page, use the filter toggle arrows to the left of the page to narrow the results either by date, series or government department that created the records.

Note that there are separate searches specifically for:

About these records

Various Victorian government departments and agencies have been responsible for roads. The records they created as a result of this work documents a rich variety of details about Victoria's built environment, not only roads but the neighbourhoods and structures surrounding roads, matters of safety and the occurrence of accidents. Some records relating to roads (and bridges) funded by the Australian Government or of national significance will be held by the National Archives of Australia.

Who created these records?

Click on the VA number to read more about a particular agency and see a complete list of series that the agency created:

  • Central Roads Board, 1853-1858 (VA 2803)
  • Public Works Department, 1855-1987 (VA 669)
  • Department of Railways and Roads, 1871-1877 (VA 2875)
  • Department of Roads and Bridges, 1905-1934 (VA 2964)
  • Royal Commission on Metropolitan Traffic, 1910-1911 (VA 5179)
  • Country Roads Board, 1913-1983 (VA 722)
  • Great Ocean Road Trust, 1918-1956 (VA 4716)
  • Transport Regulation Board, 1933-1983 (VA 2738)
  • Country Roads Board, Ballarat Division, 1948-1983 (VA 1021)
  • Department of Transport (known as Ministry of Transport 1951 to 1992), 1951-1996 (VA 673)
  • Road Safety Committee I, 1967-1982 (VA 3127)
  • Royal Commission on the Failure of a Portion of the West Gate Bridge, 1970-1971 (VA 4173)
  • Board of Inquiry into the Victorian Land Transport System, 1971-1972 (VA 5180)
  • Motor Accidents Board, 1973-1986 (VA 1055)
  • State Transport Authority, 1983-1989 (VA 1038)
  • Metropolitan Transit Authority, 1983-1989 (VA 1044)
  • Road Construction Authority, 1983-1989 (VA 1054)
  • Road Construction Authority, Ballarat Division, 1983-1989 (VA 1020)
  • Department of Industry, Technology and Resources, 1985-1990 (VA 2661)
  • Roads Corporation (also known as VicRoads), 1989-cont. (VA 2982)
  • Joint Committee on Road Safety II, 1992-2013 (VA 3130)
  • Department of Infrastructure, 1996-2008 (VA 3971)
  • Department of Transport II, 2008-2013 (VA 4853)
  • Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure, 2013-2014 (VA 5003)

Next Steps

Order the records of interest and view in our Reading Room. Some records are digital records and can be accessed directly online. 

What are in these records?

Because this search covers a number of agencies relating to roads in Victoria, the records you will be exploring are of diverse types and purposes. You can expect to find records that are:

  • correspondence relating to roads
  • images (negatives, slides and photographs)
  • reports
  • plans and drawings
  • committee records
  • inquiry transcripts
  • employee records relating to roads
  • contract and financial records
  • survey and journal records

TIP:

There may be some digitised images relating to roads in your results, to see these at the top of your search results select the Digital option in the View Record filter toggle arrows on the left of the screen. You can also use these to explore only results from particular series or created by particular agencies.

The road you are researching may have come under local government responsibility, please use our Local roads, streets, footpaths and bridges search page to find these records.

Material in the Public Record Office Victoria archival collection contains words and descriptions that reflect attitudes and government policies at different times which may be insensitive and upsetting

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples should be aware the collection and website may contain images, voices and names of deceased persons.

PROV provides advice to researchers wishing to access, publish or re-use records about Aboriginal Peoples

Learn more