Microfiche Ballarat Rate Assessments

Ballarat Rate Assessment Books
1856-1864

Transcribed by Roy Huggins & Dot Wickham

AUS$50.00

INTRODUCTION
Settlers arrived in the Ballarat area as early as 1837. Until 1851 Ballarat was a pastoral district. The influx of a large population due to the gold rushes in the 1850s was the beginning of the city of Ballaarat.

The first survey of the village was carried out by Urquhart in December 1851. The first map of Ballaarat Township Reserve was produced in 1852.

This showed streets set out in grid formation. Early land sales were held in Geelong and the first blocks were sold for the Ballarat area on 25th August 1852.

The first Ballarat Councillors were elected on 14th January 1856.

There was no formal collection of rates until 1856 when the council struck the rates and these were levied on the owners of land in the Municipal District of Ballaarat.

CONTENTS

TITLE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

TABLES SHOWING DATE RANGE OF RATE BOOKS

INFORMATION ON MICROFICHE

HOW TO USE MICROFICHE

SCOPE OF MATERIAL

ABBREVIATIONS

MAP

INFORMATION ABOUT THE MICROFICHE

This set of microfiche is comprised of:

INDEX FICHE B. DATA FICHE

The INDEX is comprised of 3 microfiche.
[ white tops]

It is a consolidated name index which is comprised of the names of owners and occupiers of land in the Municipal District of Ballaarat. Each name has been given an identifying NUMERICAL VALUE or RECORD NUMBER by the indexers. This is referred to as (REC) on the microfiche.
It is on the left hand side of the microfiche.

The DATA is comprised of 7 microfiche.
[yellow tops]

The DATA is organised in strictly numerical order. Each item (or row) has been given its own identifying numerical value or record number. This is referred to as (REC) on the microfiche. It is on the left hand side of the microfiche.

SCOPE OF MATERIAL
The information for this index is derived from the first six volumes of rate assessment books for the Municipal District of Ballaarat.
They cover the date range 1856-1864.
The original records are located at the Public Record Office of Victoria, Ballarat Repository. They are referenced under Victorian Public Record Series number 7259/P2, Units1-6.
The agency for these records is Ballarat ( Municipal District 1855-1863; Borough 1863-1870; City 1870-1994 ) VA 478.

The original registers are not indexed by either street names or by surnames of owners or occupiers. There are no consistent numbers which identify the entries. The Rate Assessor proceeded haphazardly up and down streets as the whim took him. Streets are not always in the same order in registers for consecutive years. They often appear two or more times in the one rate book. Pages are often not numbered in the early registers.

This is the reason that each entry of this index has been given its own identifying record number by the compilers.

The rate assessment registers have been transcribed consecutively so that the year 1857 follows the year 1856, and so on. Therefore, the consecutive identifying numbers, or record numbers, begin at volume one and finish at the end of volume six, running through all six volumes. The numerical range is from 1 (beginning of volume one) to 14,234 (end of volume six).

The six volumes that comprise the Ballaarat Rate Assessment Registers have a total of approximately 14,234 entries. Each entry contains some or all of the following information.

Street Name, Description of Dwelling, House Number, Name of Owner, Name of Occupier, Section Number, Allotment Number, Area, Remarks, Year of Valuation, Nett Annual Value, Rates Collected.

All the above information has not been included on the microfiche. To gain access to the above information either contact the authors, (a fee will apply), or, in person, the registers can be viewed at the Public Record Office of Victoria, Ballarat Repository.

The microfiche contain the following information.

Index Microfiche: ID Number-(Record Number), Names, Description (whether owner or occupier), Year.

Data Microfiche: ID Number-(Record Number), Street Name, Description of Dwelling, Name of Owner, Name of Occupier, Year of Rate Assessment.

Entries have been transcribed as written in the original registers. Spelling has been kept as it is written in the original registers. There are many different spellings for the same name. Please check all spellings of surnames. Some entries in the original registers have clearly been entered incorrectly. The terms owner and occupier have been used loosely. All care has been taken to transcribe accurately, but due to the age of the volumes and differing handwriting styles some entries were very difficult to decipher. These have been denoted by ? against the entry. Some entries were written in very faint pencil, and others crossed out making it difficult to read them. Always refer back to the original registers. Some entries are denoted by an asterisk*. These entries have been transcribed as written although known by the compilers to be incorrect.

BACKGROUND

The legislation was enacted for the establishment of Municipal Institutes, in Victoria, in 1854. Local Councils were then empowered to make bye-laws. This enabled them to regulate their own proceedings which included the striking and levying of rates.

A petition was gazetted early in September 1855 from "two hundred and ninety-two householders, resident in the township of Ballaarat" requesting that the township might be proclaimed a Municipal District by the name of "The Municipality of Ballaarat."

The Municipal District of Ballaarat was proclaimed on December 18th, 1855. It commenced "at the north-east angle of allotment 1 of section A, Parish of Ballaarat, thence by a line bearing east one mile twenty-two chains and eight links to a marked post; thence by a line bearing south to the River Yarrowee; thence by the River Yarrowee to the southern boundary of the Township of Ballaarat; thence by the said southern boundary and a line bearing west one mile and ten chains to a marked post; thence by a line bearing north one mile four chains and forty links to the western boundary of the Police Paddock; thence by the western and northern boundary lines of the said Police Paddock to the north-west angle of allotment 2 of section C, in the Parish of Ballaarat aforesaid; and thence by a line bearing east, being the south side of a Government road, to the commencing point aforesaid."

A meeting was held on Monday 14th January, 1856, at 12 o'clock noon at "the Saloon of the Golden Fleece, Lydiard Street," to elect members to the Municipal Council. The following members were elected to the position of councillors: Messers James Oddie, Robert Muir, Dr. James Stewart, Messers William Tulloch, A.B. Ranken, J.S.Carver, and Patrick Bolger.

The bye-laws of the Municipal Council of Ballaarat were gazetted on Monday 30th June 1856.

The first rates for Ballaarat were struck in 1856. The information supplied in these indexes has been obtained from the first rate assessment books for Ballaarat.

Please note: Ballaarat and Ballaarat East were two separate municipal districts. The rate books for Ballaarat East begin in 1859. They are not included in the following indexes.