Questions Often Asked

These are questions we hear often in the Australiana Room and if you read through them you may find an answer to a question of your own...

I have an ancestor who lived in Ballarat in the gold rush (or a bit later)

• What do you know about this ancestor?
• Do you have first and second names, wife or children’s names?
• Do you know the occupation (don’t say ‘miner’!)
• And do you know if they ‘did’ anything, such as get married, have children, even die, or did they do anything that might get them into the newspapers, eg a mining accident.

Do a little bit of preparation first, and bring your notes with you. You're very welcome in AR and staff will help you get started on your research, pointing out the various resources and helping with using machines.

A number of people have little or no success finding ancestors because the ancestor simply left no trace. We have to remember the population was very mobile, often following the gold from one place to the next, not staying long anywhere. If your ancestor did nothing to get into the records, it can be very difficult to trace them.

On the other hand people can come into AR knowing next to nothing about their ancestor and leave with a wealth of information, sometimes including photographs. You can always contact us ahead of your visit if you are only going to visit for a short time – but you should know that another thing we hear a lot in AR is our visitors saying “We should have come for a week!”

These are the first simple steps -

• start with the street directories (at the end of the ‘island bench’ which holds the microfilm readers). These list people alphabetically giving their address, much the same way as a telephone directory does now.
• check the birth death and marriage indexes either on CD rom or on microfiche. Remember that these may be available in your own local library – so you can do some checking before you arrive.
• Staff can help you learn to use the machines.

Next, a bit more in depth - these are the things that will most probably only be available locally.

• check indexes and records for schools, cemeteries, hospitals, mining accidents (on microfiche or CD) and biographical books. If you get a lead with a reasonably specific date, you could check to see if the newspapers make any mention. We hold Ballarat newspapers on microfilm.
• there are many records available (too many to list!) in the Australiana room thanks to the combined efforts of the Library and the Ballarat and District Genealogical Society. Use our catalogue to browse. If you use ‘microform’ as a search term, you will get a list of all the microfiche the Genealogical Society holds.

Remember also

• Central Highlands Regional Library Corporation branches all have Ancestry.LibraryEdition available for use in the libraries.
• you may want to send for Marriage Birth or Death certificates once you have the registration number from the BDM indexes. You can do that at the Department of Justice website.

If you are making a relatively quick visit to Ballarat this will be plenty to start with. You can always stay in touch with us after your visit, and we can follow up anything you may uncover later, but if you live in Ballarat you may find yourself a regular visitor to the Australiana room!

Remember, without leaving home you can

• use resources such as the Australian Dictionary of Biography (if your ancestor was possibly important for some reason)
• simply enter names into Google or Ancestry. With so many people doing genealogy these days, it is surprising what you can find on the internet.  You can also use Message Boards on any of the family history sites, FamilySearch, Ancestry, etc, to post messages or ask questions of fellow researchers.
• use the State Library's resources such as the Victorian Government Gazette a fabulous addition to online research.  You can enter in locality names and get a long list of entries, which will then lead you to the actual digitised page of the Gazette.  Information includes appointments to public service, local government initiatives, information about buildings or localities.
• use the National Library's resources such as the Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program.
• check other sources of information in Ballarat via the websites of the Mechanics Institute, the Gold Museum and Historical Society, the Art Gallery, the PROV and the University Archives, to name a few.
• check other national or statewide resources such as the National Archives of Australia, Museum Victoria, the Australian War Memorial, the Public Record Office of Victoria - many collecting institutions are undertaking digitising programs to make their information accessible to you at home.

I’m interested in the history of my house in Ballarat

Following the history of your home into the past can be a fascinating exercise; whether your house is humble or grand it has plenty to tell you about Ballarat, living conditions and social history.

• start with the street directories, and instead of looking up a person alphabetically, you can look at the directories by street, to see if you can identify your house.  This can be mis-leading because of the street numbering changes in Ballarat over the years (even Ballarat street names have changed, particularly around the time the Ballarat and Ballarat East councils amalgamated) but if you are careful about the way you use the street directories you can sometimes identify your house without the number, especially if it is on a corner or near a landmark eg an old hotel.
• Certificates of Title once listed owners’ names on their reverse, but modern Titles don’t do this. It can be hard to ascertain the names of the people who once lived in your house. Talk to any long-term neighbours still in your area, or try to find out if you can get a copy of an old title, from a previous owner.
• You may want to tackle rate notices, although these can be complex to decipher (be prepared to spend some time). There are some rate notices here on microfilm, and others at the Public Records Office Victoria, Ballarat Reading room in the State Offices building. Note the PROV Ballarat Reading room is only open Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• We have a number of historic maps in AR, which can be useful locating old mines and leads. The PROV can also help with subdivision maps and maps showing urban blocks, which can be fascinating as they might show you outlines of buildings and fences which no longer exist.
• We hold a large number of photographs in AR and with luck, your house might be the subject of one of them. This is especially helpful if you are restoring the façade or fence. The library also holds a number of books suggesting various heritage paint schemes, etc.
• The Planning and building department at the Ballarat City Council may also be helpful to consult, they have a Heritage Service  

Once you have established the names of people associated with your house in the past, you’ll be researching their lives to see what they worked at (is your house really a miner’s cottage or is it, rather, a bootmaker’s cottage?) how many children grew up there, were people born or did they die there? You can refer to other questions on this page to see how that can be done.

I believe ancestors owned a shop (or other business) in Ballarat

• Again we can turn to the street directories for a start.
• We also have a couple of biographical books in AR that may be useful. They are ‘Ballarat and Vicinity’ (not dated but c.1894) and ‘Ballarat and District 1901’ and also the ‘Cyclopedia of Victoria’ and ‘Victoria and its Metropolis’. These books provide potted histories (sometimes not so potted!) on the businessmen of the day (always men), sometimes including photographs of the gentleman in question, or of his business. ‘Citizens and sports’ (1916) is also a useful little book, and even includes some women!
• All these items can be found in our catalogue and can be used in AR.
• Staff may also be able to help with some of our indexes, particularly the scrapbooks, where much information from the newspapers has been captured.

I want to look up an article in the Courier [our local newspaper]

• Easy! We hold the Courier on microfilm since its inception in 1867.
• The whole paper is microfilmed so you can look up classifieds as well as news articles, and you can print out a copy of what you are seeking if necessary (20c per page).
• Just make sure you have a reasonably good idea of a date, as looking for ‘something that happened in 1962’ without knowing quite when is terribly time consuming. Even having an idea of the month or even season, is better than taking on the whole year.
• Staff will help you use the microfilm readers, don’t be afraid to ask, and if you encounter any difficulty with the machines, please alert staff, it is usually easy to fix.
• Please note we hold other Ballarat and some historic district newspapers as well (all on microfilm) but not Melbourne papers.

Any old photographs of Ballarat?

• Heaps! We are working towards adding photographs onto our catalogue so you can search them easily. However we still have a long way to go! Use ‘photographs’ as a search term in our catalogue.
• There are about 20 photographs albums in AR which you are welcome to look through. If you have a specific request make sure you talk to the librarians as they may be able to locate something for you.
• Also, use other resources, such as Picture Australia, Museum Victoria's Biggest Family Album, and the image collection of the Royal Historical Society. Local historical societies often have large collections although not usually available online (yet).

Why can’t we borrow the books in AR? Can I photocopy materials?

• The Australiana Research room holds reference and special collections, they do not go out on loan so that they are always available for use  
• Photocopying of material is allowed, subject to the usual conditions. You can obtain a copy card for $1 at the front desk, and you can make 5 copies with that card. There is a photocopy machine in AR near the windows.
• Sometimes, and this is entirely at our discretion, we will not allow photocopying of material because of fragility, for example spines not strong enough to be placed flat.  In such circumstances we will investigate digital photography of the item.

Why can’t I bring my coffee and snacks into AR?

• Food crumbs or waste will attract bugs, and we are doing everything we can not to attract bugs into this room, in order to protect our precious collection.
• Similarly, it’s a great idea to wash your hands before handling materials in AR, particularly the historic things, and we encourage you to do so.

Did we include your question?  You can contact us at history@chrlc.vic.gov.au