VPRS 11544 General Correspondence Files, Multiple Number System

This series constitutes the general correspondence of the Ministry for Conservation (VA 551). The Ministry was responsible for soil conservation, environment protection, fisheries and wildlife, land conservation, national parks, foreshore protection, marine research, zoological gardens, archaeological survey and animal protection and the files document the administration of these functions.Some files include correspondence which pre-dates the establishment of the Ministry (e.g., records of the former Fisheries and Wildlife Division of the Chief Secretary's Department). Papers continued to be added to some files by the successor agency, VA 1034 Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands.Some files have two numbers. This is a consequence of top-numbering by the Department of Planning and Environment (VA 1024) which inherited some functions and the associated files from the Ministry. The files primarily concern the Victorian Archaeological Survey and coastal management. Subsequently the functions and the files reverted to the Ministry and its successor the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands. The files were then incorporated into the Ministry's recordkeeping system and the original file numbers again became the means of access and control.Some files were periodically culled from this series in accordance with the provisions of a disposal schedule issued by the Keeper of Public Records on 12 June 1979.