VPRS 19212 Warrant Book (by 1890-1896?); Listing of possible unvaccinated children (1924-1925)

This series consists of a single volumes used by the Moonee Ponds Police Station for two completely different purposes. Between 1890-1896 it was used as a warrant book and between 1925-1925 it was used to compile listings of children who were believed to be unvaccinated against smallpox. Warrant book 1890-1896 This volume was originally created as a warrant book which was used to record the details for warrants for apprehension received by the station and how that warrant was handled. Information was recorded in printed columns that documented the: - date of receipt of the warrant - name of the person to be apprehended - the offence for which the person was to be apprehended - name of the prosecutor - the court and name of magistrate who issued the warrant - date of issue of the warrant - how the police disposed (that is, handled) the warrant, and - remarks. Not all of the pages documenting this function have survived as a number of pages between late July 1896 and January 1907 were cut out of the volume as part of the transition of the volume to its subsequent function during 1924. A hole mark visible in all of the warrant book pages indicates a metal stub was used to secure all the pages so that police staff could not subsequently refer to these pages. Listings of possible unvaccinated children 1924-1925 This record begins on the reverse of the warrant book page extant in the volume. The first folio contains in red ink the heading  'Vaccination Quarter Ending 30 - 6 - [19]24' . The columns of the warrant book were amended by hand to read: - no (i.e number) - date of birth - christian name of child - christian and surname of father - occupation and residence of parents - sent to what station (some entries in this column appear to be cases indicated as received from other stations), and  - remarks. Entries continued to be made in the pages of the volume and a loose sheet until November 1924. A number of addition loose sheets date from 1925 and include notifications of possible unvaccinated children received by the police station and a summons for a parent to appear before the Moonee Ponds Court of Petty Sessions for willfully neglecting to vaccinate their child. (A three page document also exists within the document containing columns headed name, address, business and date, however, its function cannot be determined.) The function of this part of the volume can be traced back to sections in an amending Act to the Health Act 1916 which included provisions for the compulsory vaccination of children against smallpox. These amendments were subsequently inserted as sections 123-143 of the Health Act 1919 which is the Act under which the summons in this series was issued. According to the 1919 Act, every child was to be taken to officers appointed as public vaccinators or other medical practitioners for the purposes of a smallpox vaccination (s125) and to return the child to that person within a month to determine whether the vaccination was successful (s126). Once the vaccination was deemed successful the public vaccinator/other medical practitioners was to send a certificate of successful vaccination to the parents and a copy to the District Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages (s130) who was to maintain a register of successful vaccinations (s.132). The District Registrar was required under s133 to contact parents of children for whom certificates had not been received if the parents did not meet circumstances under which a child could be exempted under s134. Under s135 each District Registrar was required to forward a list to the police station nearest that Registrar's Office for police investigation of all cases for which the exemption requirements of s 134 had not been met. Lists were to be submitted during the first week of January, April, July and October each year (s135).  Parents deemed to have deliberately refused to obtain vaccinations without an exemption or who refused to submit their children to the examination for successful vaccination were liable to a fine.   The remarks column in this portion of the volume indicates the result of the police investigations. In a number of instances the parents/child could not be traced. The remaining entries either recorded that the parents had been fined or that the child was found to have been vaccinated, possessed the exemption or had died. In some instances the entry records the matter had been referred to another police station suggesting that the parents/child had moved in the period between birth and possible vaccination.