Public Record Office Victoria online catalogue

Series VPRS 14278

Date Range:	Series	1881 - 1896
	Series in Custody	1881 - 1896
	Contents	1881 - 1896

Public Access:	Open
Location:	North Melbourne

Format of Records:

Physical

Agency which created this SeriesAgency which created this Series

Display entries per page

Date Range

Agency Title

Agency Number

1881 - 1896

Department of Crown Lands and Survey

VA 538

Agency currently responsible for this SeriesAgency currently responsible for this Series

Display entries per page

Date Range

Agency Title

Agency Number

2002 - cont

Department of Sustainability and Environment

VA 4554

Description of this SeriesDescription of this Series

How to use the Records
Consult the Consignment Details for the volume containing the time period for which information is required.

For correspondence from a specific person or organisation, consult the alphabetical section corresponding to the name.
Function / Content
This series consists of subsidiary registers of inward correspondence maintained by the Department of Crown Lands and Survey to other registers in which correspondence had been centrally registered. For the period 1876 to 1896 correspondence had already been registered centrally in VPRS 166 Alphabetical Registers of Inwards Correspondence. After 1896, correspondence had already been registered in either VPRS 3217 Secretary's Correspondence Registers (Numerical) or more likely in VPRS 620 Register of Secretary's Inward Correspondence (Lands). The last column in the central registers gives the division or Branch to which the correspondence was referred and distributed for action.

The subsidiary registers, which documented the receipt of correspondence by these divisions or Branches, were kept in a number of locations within the Department of Crown Lands and Survey. Subsidiary registers kept in the Occupation Branch were arranged according to Land District (e.g Ballarat, Horsham) or a number of Land Districts in conjunction or specialist activity (e.g. Village Settlement as shown in VPRS 14104). Other subsidiary registers were kept by the Secretary of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey and by the Land Sales Branch. This series registers correspondence relating to the Echuca, Kerang, Beechworth and Omeo Land Districts.

Each of these subsidiary registers records the date of receipt, the number already allocated in the central registers (VPRS 166 or the post-1896 numerical registers), often but not always the name of the correspondent, the subject of the letter and how the letter was dealt with. For correspondence dealt with in the Occupation Branch, it was most often placed upon a land file with the file number being given in the subsidiary correspondence register.

At the front of the volume an index to the volume gives the number of the piece of correspondence and the page upon which it is registered. In some volumes, the index is sub-divided according to the section of a Land Act to which correspondence relates (e. g. Section 31 or Section 33) or according to the alphabetical designation or simply in order of receipt.

Correspondence registered in this system may be found in series composed of land files, in VPRS 44 Inward Registered and Unregistered Correspondence, VPRS 989 General Correspondence Files, VPRS 1003 Correspondence Files (Land Sales Branch), VPRS 1016 Miscellaneous Correspondence Files or in the other series identified in the Series Controlled entry.

Correspondence might also have been further referred onwards to a relevant District Land Office outside Melbourne for further action. Its receipt at that Office would also have been registered in the inward correspondence register maintained by that office with the appropriate reference to the original registration number and a summary of further action taken.
Recordkeeping System
Entries are in alphabetical sections according to the family name of the correspondent or the name of the organisation or municipality. Within each alphabetical section entries are in chronological order of receipt.