VPRS 19507 Magistrates Note Books [1864-1866]: Outward Letter Book, Electoral Registrar [1859-1862]

The series comprises two volumes which between them, document to activities undertaken by individuals based at Williamstown Courts. The volumes were in private hands for a considerable period of time before these were obtained by PROV in April 2023. Magistrates Note Books (8 July 1864 - 21 December 1866) These comprise notes taken down by Magistates that presided over some civil and criminal cases during this period. For most part the notes for each case are extremely detailed and read almost as though these are transcriptions of depositions. However, unlike deposition books that have survived from some Courts of Petty Sessions from this era, the individuals who have purportedly made the statements credited to them were not required to certify the statements.  A number of the entries also record the outcome of the case. These notes span part of a period for which there is no extant court register.   The Court of Petty Sessions Cause List Books (VPRS 361) which would have been created at this time are not in archival custody and it is possible these court were destroyed in the fire at the courthouse in 1971. The entries made for 16 February 1865 contain the Magistrates notes relating to individuals associated in some way to the controversial visit to Williamstown/Melbourne by the US Confederate ship the CSS Shenandoah. Outward Letter Book, Electoral Registrar, North and South Divisions of the Central Province and the District of Williamstown (10 March 1859 - 13 September 1862) A handful pages in the first volume of this series contains transcriptions of letters written by the Electoral Registrar in relation to a variety of issues related to the compilation of electoral roles and the organisation of elections. This was the purpose to which this volume was originally created. However, in July 1864, the remainder of the volume was used to contain the sequence of Magistrates notes recorded in the other volume. The Magistrates notes began from the rear of the volume, but the volume had been turned upside down so that both functions can be read in a conventional manner from a first page. At this time, electoral rolls were compiled by the Collectors of Electoral Lists and were transmitted to the various relevant Clerks of the Courts of Petty Sessions who were the Electoral Registrars.