Series Descriptions

What is a Series?
A Series is a collection of records, maintained as part of an Archival Control System. Understanding this system is useful should you wish to conduct further research using the PROV collection. For more detailed information, click here.

For information regarding the Series referred to on this site click on the links below:

VPRS 30 Criminal Trial Briefs
VPRS 937 Inward Registered Correspondence
VPRS 1080 Minutes of the Executive Council
VPRS 1085 Duplicate Despatches from the Governor to the Secretary of State
VPRS 1095 Special Files
VPRS 1189 Inward Registered Correspondence
VPRS 3219 Outward Registered Correspondence
VPRS 4066 Inward Correspondence
VPRS 5527 Eureka Stockade Historical Collection

VPRS 30 Criminal Trial Briefs
This series comprises the documentation created in the course of the prosecution of individuals committed for trial on indictable and capital offences. The contents of this series is gathered, created and maintained by the recording agencies which have been responsible for preparing and prosecuting such cases on behalf of the Crown.

The Eureka Collection, now VPRS 5527, orginates from this series as it is predominantly a collection of trial briefs; these were removed from their original context due to their historical significance.

The series is titled 'Criminal Trial Briefs' although the brief itself is part of a much larger accumulation. This accumulation commences when an individual has been committed and the papers used by the Crown in the committal hearing have been received from the committing court. Papers generated during the subsequent trial preparation and prosecution process are added so that by the end of the prosecution, the documentation for each case may consist of a number of items. Documentation for a completed case would typically contain the following elements:

• original depositions (including exhibits). The papers sent from the committing court which form the basis of the prosecution. These include the depositions (or statements) of various witnesses and associated documents such as witness recognisances, bail documentation and subpoenas. These are usually bound together in some way and a cover sheet containing summary information about the prosecution is usually attached.
• additional evidence collected after the committal hearing.
• prosecutor's brief (also known as the Brief for the Prosecution). Papers created to assist the Crown Prosecutor in presenting the prosecution case during the trial. Contents usually comprise copies of papers found in the original depositions together with original items such as the prosecutor's instructions and notes, results of scientific tests, query sheets, notices of additional witnesses and admissions of fact by the accused. Additional briefs are also created when the prosecutor appears before the court in matters dealing with specific trial processes such as applications for change of trial venue (known as a Brief to Appear), or in instances where the prosecutor approaches the Chamber Prosecutor or another barrister for a legal opinion (also known as a Brief to Advise).
• administrative papers, correspondence and legal opinions relating to any aspect of the prosecution, preparation and appeal action.

VPRS 937 Inward Registered Correspondence
The correspondence in this series was created as part of the management and administration of the Police Force and as a means of communicating essential matters, decisions and information important to the exercise of its law enforcement functions. The correspondence is that sent to the Chief Commissioner of Police as the chief executive officer of the Victoria Police. There are five hundred and fifteen boxes within the P0000 Consignment dating from 1852–1918. The records displayed on this website date from 1854, and are sent to the Chief Commissioner from the Inspector of Police stationed in Ballarat.

VPRS 1080 Minutes of the Executive Council
This series was created to record details of Executive Council meetings. The Executive Council is a body created under the Governor's Instructions which, since 1851, gives effect to Cabinet and Ministerial decisions. These minutes, therefore, touch on all areas of government policy. Executive Council meetings are also known as the Governor-in-Council. The P0000 consignment contains forty volumes (units) dating from 1851–1910. The meeting that took place the day after the attack on the Eureka Stockade was in unit 2.

VPRS 1085 Duplicate Despatches from the Governor to the Secretary of State
This series consists of copies of despatches, forming the official channel of communication from the Governor of Victoria to the British Secretary of State responsible for the administration of the Colonial (and later, the Commonwealth) Office. The Secretary's official title in 1854 was the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, then held by The Hon. Sir George Grey. The value of this series lies in the fact that the individual despatches contain copies of any enclosures sent.

VPRS 1095 Special Files
Records in this series consist of a wide variety of correspondence, reports, official papers, petitions and other records related to the evolving office of the Governor of Victoria and the exercise of the constitutional functions of the office.

Among matters covered by records in this series are events at Ballarat in 1854, the appointment and dissolution of Ministries, petitions from communities and citizens, and matters relating to functions such as defence and foreign relations exercised by the pre-Federation Victorian Government. There are fourty-four units in the P0000 consignment, dated from 1851–1951.

The item from this series that we have selected for this site is addressed to the Lieutenant Governor of 1854, Sir Charles Hotham. The title of this office was changed to Governor after 1855.

VPRS 1189 Inward Registered Correspondence
This series consists of inward correspondence received by the Colonial Secretary's Office between 1851 and 1855, and by the Chief Secretary's Department between 1855 and 1863. From 1851, the Colonial Secretary was the chief official of the government and the entire business of the colony was conducted either directly or indirectly though him.

At the time of the disturbances in Ballarat, the Colonial Secretary was Mr John Foster, who resigned shortly after the events at Eureka due to a barrage of popular criticism. The heads of the various departments did not possess any power of independent action nor of direct communication with the Lieutenant Governor. It was also not possible for one head of department to effect action through communication with another, except through the Colonial Secretary. No expenditure could be incurred and no departmental change effected without the concurrence of the Colonial Secretary, who was also the only medium of communication between the Lieutenant Governor and the public.

The series contains eight hundred and seventy two units (boxes) of varied correspondence, relating to the governance of the colony including: education, infrastructure, law and order, land and the management of the goldfields. Correspondence within the series mainly includes communications concerning the general business performed by a particular department, the expenditure within a department and communications relating to civil service staff.

Material from this series, and displayed on this site, are from Units 92, 95 and 153. Units 92 and 95 form part of correspondence relating to the management of the goldfields, including that of the Chief Commissioner of the Goldfields and documents forwarded to the Colonial Secretary by him. This includes weekly and monthy reports and returns from each Resident Commissioner at the goldfields. Unit 153 contains correspondence forwarded from the Chief Commissioner of Police, including his own account of the events at Eureka.

VPRS 3219 Outward Registered Correspondence
This series consists of copies of the outward correspondence sent by the Colonial Secretary's Office between 1851 and 1855. The Colonial Secretary was the chief official of government during this period.

At the time of the Ballarat disturbances, the Colonial Secretary was John Foster. The Colonial Secretary was the only medium of communication between the Lieutenant Governor and the public and this series therefore contains the responses to some of the correspondence in VPRS 4066 (Inward Registered Correspondence).

Functions administered by the Colonial Secretary included census and statistics, education, goldfields administration (including the Chinese on the goldfields), health, immigration, libraries, police administration and prisons, the protection of Aborigines, management and sale of Crown Lands, public works and buildings, and roads and bridges. The Colonial Secretary also came to have responsibility for the care and control of lunatics, recording births, deaths and marriages, the registration of theatre licences, and the colony's first art gallery and museum. In 1854 and 1855 the Colonial Secretary was also responsible for the Gold Office. There are twenty units in this series: each unit contains responses directed to a specific function or subject category for the period (for example, Unit 2 is correspondence directed to Police and Goldfields, and Unit 8 is correspondence sent to Private Persons)

VPRS 4066 Inward Correspondence
This series consists of inward correspondence registered by the Governor.

Correspondence in this series came from ministers, other governors and officials, diplomatic representatives accredited to Victoria, and citizens seeking the Governor's favour or intervention in various matters. A number of pieces of correspondence are annotated with the substance of the reply which the Governor wished to issue, or with comments from the department or official to which it had been referred.

Not all correspondence is found in the files of VPRS 4066, as some correspondence referred to ministers or government departments were not returned to the Governor and filed in his recordkeeping system. These pieces of correspondence may be found in a departmental correspondence registers or files.

There are four units in the series that date from 1854–1857. Units 1 and 2 contain a range of correspondence that present diverse perspectives of the events at Ballarat.

VPRS 5527 Eureka Stockade Historical Collection (see VPRS 30 Criminal Trial Briefs)

For more information on each series, its function and the recordkeeping system used, enter the series number (for example, VPRS 1189) into the 'Direct Search' option in Archives@Victoria.