VPRS 7232 Minute Books

Minutes of council meetings were created in accordance with section 145 of the Municipal Institutions Act 1863 (27 Vic., No.184) and with subsequent legislation relating to local government including the Local Government Act 1958 (N.6299). Many local government bodies in existence prior to 1863 maintained records of their meetings in the form of minutes.These acts have required that for each meeting of council, minutes of all proceedings are recorded together with names of all councillors present and all who vote for and against motions. The master set of minutes is also required to be signed by the mayor or chairman of the meeting once the minutes have been confirmed at the following council or committee meeting. The minutes relate to the wide range of activities for which the council is responsible, including building, community services, collection of rates, property valuation and town planning.The committee system is employed by most Victorian councils. The Local Government Act 1903 (No.1893) removed the requirement that separate committee minutes be kept and introduced the requirement that committees reports to council be included in the council minutes, either in lieu of or in addition to committee reports. Where committee minutes were maintained in separate volumes they constitute a separate series from the council minutes.About the RecordsThe first volume of this series (VPRS 7232/P2, unit 1) also contains minutes of the Woady Yallock District Board meetings from the first meeting on 23 September 1863 to the proclamation of the Shire on 16 February 1864. These minutes are a duplicate of those in VPRS 6349 Minute Book created by Woady Yallock Road Board & Woady Yallock District (VA 2674) between 1861 and 1864.