PROV Researcher Resources

Did you know that the Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) has its own YouTube channel?  They offer a wealth of videos to help you get the most out of their archives.

From an Open House Tour of the Victorian Archives Centre, to deep dive research, stories within the Archives or how to use the PROV website, there is a wealth of presentations free to view to help you with your research.

Learn to get the most from the PROV website with :

• How to create an account and log in
• How to search and filter
• How to order a record or box to view
• How to order copies
• How to order via Direct Entry
• Order dashboard
• Understanding and researching the public record  collection

The Deep Dive Subject Research tutorials include :

• Correspondence records
• Introduction to researching place
• Introduction to crime research
• Crown Grant records
• Pupil Registers
• Rate records
• Divorce records
• Criminal trials

So take a look to the PROV YouTube channel and get the most out of the records on offer.

Victorian Court of Petty Sessions Records

A new record collection available on Ancestry includes images of the original records from the proceedings of Australian Courts of Petty Sessions between 1854 and 1922. 

The court registers in this collection typically have criminal, civil, and licensing cases mixed together, but the busiest courts may have recorded each type of case in separate registers. Entries in the court registers were typically organized chronologically and were handwritten, making some information difficult to read.

Records may include the following information:

• Name
• Court date
• Court city
• Names of children
• Place of residence
• Reason for appearance
• Result of appearance
  

The records were created by officials working for Courts of Petty Sessions in Victoria, Australia. The original documents are primary historical sources, and the information in them may not be available in other records. The original register books are housed at the Public Record Office Victoria in Melbourne.

The powers and jurisdiction of the Courts of Petty Sessions were established by a parliamentary act in 1832. These local courts were conducted by two or more justices hearing cases together and commonly making decisions without the input of a jury. The most common criminal cases heard in Petty Sessions were for theft, drunkenness, and disorderly or dishonest conduct. People also were charged with failure to show up for work or were accused of speaking to their employer in abusive language. Courts of Petty Sessions also handled civil cases and the issuance of licenses. However, in 1886, separate courts were established to process liquor licenses.

From minor criminal charges to cases of child neglect to accusations of drunk and disorderly conduct, this record set has been a gold mine of information about my ancestors.  Not only can these records be used to confirm that my ancestors appeared before a Court of Petty Sessions at a specific time and place, they also confirm where these people lived at the time of their court appearance gives me a location to search for land, church and government records. 

Don't forget that you can search the Ancestry database for free at any branch of Campaspe Libraries using our public access PCs or wifi through our subscription to Ancestry Library Edition.

Trove Maintenance Closure

An announcement has just been made regarding upcoming maintenance for Trove.

The statement by the National Library of Australia is  below :

"Trove will be unavailable from 6pm AEDT Saturday 9 December until 12pm AEDT Sunday 10 December 2023 so the National Library of Australia can undertake planned maintenance. Our enquiry service, Trove Support, will also be unavailable over this time. 

For information about impacts to other online and onsite Library services over this weekend, please see the National Library’s update. 

On 10 December you can check social media to find out when we are back online. 

Trove will also be unavailable over the weekend on 13 and 14 January 2024. Further details about this planned maintenance will be published closer to the time."

Scottish Indexes Conference

 
Are you interested in tracing your Scottish genealogy? The Scottish Indexes Conference is an opportunity to learn new research skills, discover diverse records and see how others have put these into practice. If you want to trace your Scottish family tree, this is the event for you.

This is a free event and is open to all. The conference starts at 7 am UK time and keeps going until 11 pm UK time. Each presentation is shown twice, once between 7 am and 3 pm, then again between 3 pm and 11 pm. You can come and go throughout the day. 

The conference is designed to be interactive and is best watched live, however some presentations from previous conferences are available to watch again. Visit the Past Conferences page to see what you’ve missed so far and catch up with some of the presentations. 

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue: 

• Break down walls with DNA How to use DNA testing to trace missing ancestors 
• Disaster strikes Tracing your family in times of misfortune and crisis
• Reader story Gethin Matthews found three brothers' letters from the First World War
• Musicians How to find performing ancestors online
• Celebrating Your Projects Kelly Horsley explored her Romany family history
• The Highland Clearances The story of a Scottish tragedy
• And more
  

Family Tree UK Magazine

The latest issue of Family Tree UK magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to Libby eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue :  

• Gone! Just like that...
• New regions added to Ancestry DNA ethnicities
• Midlands region family history show: new for 2024
• New archive research centre to open in Lancaster
• 18th-century Map of Kent reproduced for modern-day collectors
• AGRA conference a ‘resounding success’
• Mary Rose Museum welcomes special visitors for anniversary day
• New ‘Wonderlab’ aims to draw on railway heritage to inspire future engineers
• Find My Past : master game-changing tips
• Surname clues
• A lasting mark: intergenerational trauma

National Archives of Australia Military Records

The National Archives of Australia recently announced they had digitised over 1 million World War II military records.

Army records from World War II usually include:

• attestation (enlistment) form, setting out personal details such as age, next of kin and former occupation
• service and casualty form (Form B103), giving details about units and postings, injuries and disciplinary charges
• discharge form, summarising the person's service (not included in all cases)
• head-and-shoulders photograph may be included
• other documents or correspondence sometimes included

The Archives also hold other record sets related to wartime service and defence, many of which have also been digitised and made available free on their website.

These record sets include:

• civilian service
• courts-martial
• merchant navy
• munitions workers
• soldier settlement
• veterans’ cases
• war crimes
• war gratuities
• war graves
• defence administration and policy

These are in addition to the World War I military records which have already been digitised and available on the NAA site.

World War I service records usually include:

• an attestation paper – completed on enlistment, listing next-of-kin, employment, marital status, age, place of birth and a physical description
• a service and casualty form – 'Form B103', showing movements and transfers between units, promotions and details of injuries and treatment
• military correspondence – between the Department of Defence and the soldier's next-of-kin notifying of wounds or death, awards and medals and asking questions on the whereabouts of a service member

So take a look at all these records (and MORE) that are availabe FREE through the National Archives of Australia.