RECORD ROUND-UP
What’s available online and in the archives
In addition to specific mining records found in the government state archives, information can also be found through other sources such as maps and gazetteers, probate records, court of petty session records and school admission registers.
Maps
It is essential to know where a mining field was located and what the closest town was. Trove ( trove.nla.gov. au) can be used to find digitised maps held by the National Library or state libraries. Mining gazetteers or directories may also be available online. For example, digital copies of The Mineral Wealth of Queensland by Robert L Jack and FE Hiscock & Co’s Victorian Counties
Atlas 1874 can be located through Trove.
Inquests
Inquest records can be useful if someone died in a mining accident (see an example on page 55) and can be found in various state archives. Inquest records can contain a wide range of documents including depositions from witnesses, a police report, autopsy results, photos and the enquiry findings. The depositions have details on a person not found elsewhere, so these records are worth examining if an ancestor died and there was an inquest or inquiry into their death. What is online varies from state to state. For example, Public Record Office Victoria ( bit.ly/inquestrecords) and the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office ( bit.ly/tasmanianarchives) have digitised inquest records and made them available for free. Queensland State Archives has an index to inquests 1859-1902 ( bit.ly/queensland
archives) with copies available for purchase.
Probate records
Wills and other probate documents can also provide information on miners, including any real estate or personal wealth. Inventories of estates may include freehold title references or even the number of miners homestead leases as well as money held in the bank or shares held in mining companies. Online indexes may be found on state government archive websites but only the Public Record Office of Victoria ( bit.ly/victoriawills) and the Tasmanian Archive & Heritage Office ( bit.ly/tasmanianwills) has indexed and digitised probate records and made the records available online.
Court of petty session records
Miners often liked a drink and there were many hotels in the mining areas. Not surprisingly, there were also quite a few fights and instances of drunk and disorderly or obscene language. These types of crimes were dealt with in the local petty sessions courts. These records are held by the government state archives but are largely not indexed. However, digitised newspapers in Trove ( trove.nla.gov. au) provide a quick and easy way to access these court records. Newspapers reported what went on in the courts and once you find a reference to an ancestor, note the name of the court and the date.
School records
School admission records may provide a way of tracing mining ancestors on the move. School admission registers give the name and occupation of the father and the dates the child was enrolled in the school. As families moved from goldfield to goldfield, the children changed schools and the dates can provide a reasonably accurate timeframe. The Queensland Family History Society ( bit.ly/queenslandFHS) has a database of nearly 2.5 million pupils from over 1,200 schools dating back to 1860. Some of these pupil records are also available on findmypast.co.uk.