Do you mean this one from 2002, Ada? === Over the years there has been a blurring of the meaning of "miner's licence" (old), "Miner's 'Right' and the later Lands Dept The first licences in the 1850s. With the finding of gold, the populace was reminded that the "Royal Metals" of gold and silver, belonged to the Crown. A system of licences to dig for gold and receive the value of the gold so exposed was instituted. The first licences were on paper, which disintegrated when it got wet and wore through in its folds. The booklets were printed, much as a raffle ticket, with the larger portion giving all the particulars, and the "stub" giving the minimum: area, date, name. The first licences were issued at a cost of thirty shillings (£1/10/-) PER MONTH! The ticket was taken by the miner, the stub was kept by the authorities. Of course, once the month was over, a new licence was issued, and, by and large, the keeping of these "stubs" would have received low priority over the years. And, as the goldfields were continually shifting, once the stubs were checked against revenue, the reason for keeping tens of thousands of monthly stubs would be of low priority. Consequently few (if any) stubs have survived. In 1852 a 3-month licence cost 40/-. In 1853 a monthly £1 licence was introduced In June 1855 the "Miner's Right" of £1 per year replaced the licence and allowed the miner to occupy "a residence" (as compared with a temporary tent) and an export duty of 2/6 per ounce was placed on gold. The goldfields were made part of electoral districts and the Miner's Right became a qualification for voting. (Already there has been a reference to the 1856 Electoral Roll, which is on individual photographed cards arranged alphabetically and produced by the State Library as a microfiche set. The miner's right allowed the digger to also live on his plot, mainly to protect his claim. Licences were also issued for storekeepers at quite high fees. Totals of diggers licenced on the goldfields (no official totals given until November 1852. Nov 1852 total licences 35,575 Dec 1952 35,469 Jan 1853 33,273 Feb 1853 37,420 Mar 1853 38,473 April 1853 38,473 May 1853 39,261 June 1853 42,269 July 1853 42,800 Aug 1853 39,720 Licenced diggers at the ovens, for example: Oct 1851 was 286, in Nov 1851 was 16,225 and by Dec 1851 was reduced to 4,010, and in Jan 1852 was virtually deserted. As you can see, the gold diggers rushed from one "find" to another, and with the limited number of public servants impervious to the gold fever, the new Victorian government had to priortise activities: if it earned money, if it controlled crime, then the limited manpower was placed there. This is one of the reasons that no passenger lists were kept in the repositories for 1851. The customs and immigration officers were not available. I think there were a couple of directories produced (dates? perhaps Ballarat Family History Group can say?) Some Wardens registers survive, some petitions signed by sometimes hundreds of miners were sent to the Attorney General, Treasury, the Chief Secretary, etc. There are some licence stubs surviving, but not many, and I don't believe any have been indexed. A change came in 1865, when the Land Act, section 42, allowed people to reside on and cultivate land in and around the goldfields under annual licences. Then the 1869 Act, section 49 allowed residence and cultivation on and around goldfields, allowing a licence of three years, had to meet standards of fencing and cultivation, when they could then purchase or continue the lease for seven years, paying off the purchase price. Records of these leases, popularly called "Miner's Rights" have survived as individual history files of these leases through to purchase, and make very interesting reading. === At 11:05 +1100 19/12/05, Ada Ackerly wrote: >Hello Listers, > >I have searched in vain on my computer for a >reply I sent several years ago re prospecting >licences or miner's licences. If I find it, I >will put it up again. It would answer all such >questions > >However, the gist of this was: These were annual licences. > >The method was similar to the raffle ticket >books with stub. On the main certificate was the >man's name, the goldfield he was prospecting, >the signature of the officer who received the >fee. This part was torn off and handed to the >applicant. > >The stub remaining merely gave the name of the >man, the amount of the annual registration fee. > >Tens of thousands of these certificates were >printed and issued. With the new year, the old >certificates were redundant. Most miners threw >theirs away when they re-registered for the >ensuing year. Most mine officers discarded the >out-of-date stubs. The miners so quickly moved >from one field to another that 10,000 could be >issued for one field in one year, and only 350 >issued in the ensueing year for the same field, >then zero. Mining sites were deserted overnight >when rumours of a new strike circulated. Pity >the poor schoolteacher who had just received >permission to set up his school, only to find >the seats empty just as his permission arrived! >It was a volatile time. > >I don't know about Ballarat and Bendigo, but I >do know the following stubs are in the Victorian >Public Record Office Melbourne. You might need >to call the Ballarat VPRO to check their meagre >holdings (if any) > >Miners Right Stubs: >Castlemaine 1919 to 1925 one box VPRS 3540 > >Inglewood 1860 to 1920 four boxes VPRS 491 > >Waranga 1865 to 1868 one volume VPRS 398 > > >Regards Ada > >>----- Original Message ----- >>From: "Jan Mumford" <jan.mumford@tics.com.au> >>To: <AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L@rootsweb.com> >>Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2005 3:11 PM >>Subject: RE: prospectors licenses >>> Dear All >>> >>> I would love to know the answer to this one too. >>> Regards >>> Jan Mumford >> >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: Ian.Harrison@csiro.au [mailto:Ian.Harrison@csiro.au] >>> Sent: Sunday, 18 December 2005 1:45 PM >>> To: AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L@rootsweb.com >>> Subject: prospectors licenses >>> >>> Dear all, >>> I have had a bit of bad luck with two fairly significant ancestors, my >>> GG and G grandfathers, "they disappeared without trace" its thought that >>> went to the goldfields in Victoria and this could be true as it was >>> about the right time for each one of them. >>> My question is: are there indexes or searchable registers for >>> prospectors licenses on the Victorian goldfields and maybe WA's ? >>> Many thanks >>> IanH > >regards, >Ada Ackerly, Melbourne, Australia >formerly Ackerly DocuSearch > > > >-- >No virus found in this outgoing message. >Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. >Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.1/206 - Release Date: 16-12-05 > > > >==== AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS Mailing List ==== >To unsubscribe from this mailing list send the >word 'unsubscribe' in the body of a message to >AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L-request@rootsweb.com