Hello Listers, Seeing as things are so quiet of late I thought I would relate one of my current projects. It may help some with ideas of how to find information.................and I apologise in advance to those who already know. I often assist people overseas, interstate or in country areas with obtaining documents from the PRO here in Melbourne, a place I seem to be addicted to. I recently answered a request from a man in New Zealand who was looking for the inquest/s of his grandparents. He had previous asked lists giving their names but had been told there was nothing on the Inquest CD, and I noted the same. He further quoted newspaper reports of the day which indicated they had been hit by a vehicle driven by an unlicensed 17 year old. He also had his grandfather's death certificate which gave the date of the inquest and the coroner's name. Family stories were that the driver was related to 'a family' and things were kept quiet. This sounded like an interesting one so I decided to help him and did some further searches on the Inquest CD and found a man with the same first name who had been 'hit by a car' in the same year, however this man's death was not recorded on the Death CD. I wondered if the surname of this inquest could have been a mistake and maybe the name of the driver of the vehicle? (I have found anything is possible). So off the PRO to view this inquest, which turned out not to the be one we were looking for, but a further example of how diligent we must be when looking for information on our ancestors - i.e. shown on the Inquest CD but not the Death CD. After talking to the people at the PRO we decided my next course of action was the original Inquest Microform Reel which shows the actual register book that records inquests and the number they are given. The year I was looking for was shown as an alphabetical volume and there was nothing for the surname I was wanting. I next checked the Police Gazette for the relevant year and as the accident had occurred a few days into January and the inquest had been held in the middle of February there were not too many pages to read. However being an incurable "?" I got side tracked so many times reading reports of stolen property, absconders, recent releases of jailed offenders etc. not to mention the lists of Police enlistments and promotions. After two sessions of reading I could find no reference to the accident. (By the way these are indexed and are just wonderful reading) My next stop was the Coroner's Court here in Melbourne, but unfortunately I did not receive any help there. They simply stated that after 10 years all inquests were sent to the Public Record Office and if it was not there that was it. However I am of the opinion that there must be more there. I believe they would have records of what courts sat on what days and who presided. Juries are often used so a record of their 'call-up' and presence must be somewhere. I had previously thought it could have been just one of them that had gone through the system unrecorded and may in fact be in a box of inquests around the January/February period for that year, and if I could go through them all may come across it. So with the help of 'Scott' at the PRO I was able to ascertain the Unit Number of two boxes containing inquests for that period. This morning I went to the PRO and viewed both boxes, but the inquest was not there. The inquests are numbered from 0001 at the beginning of each year from when the inquest is held, regardless of the date of death. Unfortunately the first box contained the papers for murders which occurred at the end of the year. Three women were murdered and an American Service man was executed for their deaths all of which was noted the following year and thus recorded there. The photographs were disturbing. However I did note that there was one number missing and on checking the Inquest CD nothing was issued for that particular number - I wonder if this is the one I want. My next port of call is Police Records. I noted that they were at the scene of the accident and when I have read previous inquests oftentimes it is a carbon copy in the file so the original must be kept in Police Archives. Because the event occurred less than 75 years ago I may have to go through Freedom of Information. I will keep you posted of what the final outcome is, and if you have any ideas of research please let me know. Bye for now, Mary of Melbourne

----- Original Message ----- From: "MM" <elthamlax@techinfo.com.au> To: <AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 2:27 PM Subject: [HC] RESEARCH > Hello Listers, > Seeing as things are so quiet of late I thought I would relate one of my current projects. It may help some with ideas of how to find information.................and I apologise in advance to those who already know. > I often assist people overseas, interstate or in country areas with obtaining documents from the PRO here in Melbourne, a place I seem to be addicted to. > I recently answered a request from a man in New Zealand who was looking for the inquest/s of his grandparents. He had previous asked lists giving their names but had been told there was nothing on the Inquest CD, and I noted the same. He further quoted newspaper reports of the day which indicated they had been hit by a vehicle driven by an unlicensed 17 year old. He also had his grandfather's death certificate which gave the date of the inquest and the coroner's name. Family stories were that the driver was related to 'a family' and things were kept quiet. > This sounded like an interesting one so I decided to help him and did some further searches on the Inquest CD and found a man with the same first name who had been 'hit by a car' in the same year, however this man's death was not recorded on the Death CD. I wondered if the surname of this inquest could have been a mistake and maybe the name of the driver of the vehicle? (I have found anything is possible). > So off the PRO to view this inquest, which turned out not to the be one we were looking for, but a further example of how diligent we must be when looking for information on our ancestors - i.e. shown on the Inquest CD but not the Death CD. > After talking to the people at the PRO we decided my next course of action was the original Inquest Microform Reel which shows the actual register book that records inquests and the number they are given. The year I was looking for was shown as an alphabetical volume and there was nothing for the surname I was wanting. I next checked the Police Gazette for the relevant year and as the accident had occurred a few days into January and the inquest had been held in the middle of February there were not too many pages to read. However being an incurable "?" I got side tracked so many times reading reports of stolen property, absconders, recent releases of jailed offenders etc. not to mention the lists of Police enlistments and promotions. After two sessions of reading I could find no reference to the accident. (By the way these are indexed and are just wonderful reading) > My next stop was the Coroner's Court here in Melbourne, but unfortunately I did not receive any help there. They simply stated that after 10 years all inquests were sent to the Public Record Office and if it was not there that was it. However I am of the opinion that there must be more there. I believe they would have records of what courts sat on what days and who presided. Juries are often used so a record of their 'call-up' and presence must be somewhere. > I had previously thought it could have been just one of them that had gone through the system unrecorded and may in fact be in a box of inquests around the January/February period for that year, and if I could go through them all may come across it. So with the help of 'Scott' at the PRO I was able to ascertain the Unit Number of two boxes containing inquests for that period. This morning I went to the PRO and viewed both boxes, but the inquest was not there. The inquests are numbered from 0001 at the beginning of each year from when the inquest is held, regardless of the date of death. Unfortunately the first box contained the papers for murders which occurred at the end of the year. Three women were murdered and an American Service man was executed for their deaths all of which was noted the following year and thus recorded there. The photographs were disturbing. > However I did note that there was one number missing and on checking the Inquest CD nothing was issued for that particular number - I wonder if this is the one I want. > My next port of call is Police Records. I noted that they were at the scene of the accident and when I have read previous inquests oftentimes it is a carbon copy in the file so the original must be kept in Police Archives. Because the event occurred less than 75 years ago I may have to go through Freedom of Information. > I will keep you posted of what the final outcome is, and if you have any ideas of research please let me know. > Bye for now, > Mary of Melbourne

Hello Mary, This research must assist you in the long run as you learn so much from the chase. Was there anything in any local or even metro papers at the time? If you have an address, for the location or for the deceased, and it was not too long ago, a chat to the neighbours might turn something up. Good luck. Glenda ----- Original Message ----- From: "MM" <elthamlax@techinfo.com.au> To: <AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 2:27 PM Subject: [HC] RESEARCH > Hello Listers, > Seeing as things are so quiet of late I thought I would relate one of my current projects. It may help some with ideas of how to find information.................and I apologise in advance to those who already know. > I often assist people overseas, interstate or in country areas with obtaining documents from the PRO here in Melbourne, a place I seem to be addicted to. > I recently answered a request from a man in New Zealand who was looking for the inquest/s of his grandparents. He had previous asked lists giving their names but had been told there was nothing on the Inquest CD, and I noted the same. He further quoted newspaper reports of the day which indicated they had been hit by a vehicle driven by an unlicensed 17 year old. He also had his grandfather's death certificate which gave the date of the inquest and the coroner's name. Family stories were that the driver was related to 'a family' and things were kept quiet. > This sounded like an interesting one so I decided to help him and did some further searches on the Inquest CD and found a man with the same first name who had been 'hit by a car' in the same year, however this man's death was not recorded on the Death CD. I wondered if the surname of this inquest could have been a mistake and maybe the name of the driver of the vehicle? (I have found anything is possible). > So off the PRO to view this inquest, which turned out not to the be one we were looking for, but a further example of how diligent we must be when looking for information on our ancestors - i.e. shown on the Inquest CD but not the Death CD. > After talking to the people at the PRO we decided my next course of action was the original Inquest Microform Reel which shows the actual register book that records inquests and the number they are given. The year I was looking for was shown as an alphabetical volume and there was nothing for the surname I was wanting. I next checked the Police Gazette for the relevant year and as the accident had occurred a few days into January and the inquest had been held in the middle of February there were not too many pages to read. However being an incurable "?" I got side tracked so many times reading reports of stolen property, absconders, recent releases of jailed offenders etc. not to mention the lists of Police enlistments and promotions. After two sessions of reading I could find no reference to the accident. (By the way these are indexed and are just wonderful reading) > My next stop was the Coroner's Court here in Melbourne, but unfortunately I did not receive any help there. They simply stated that after 10 years all inquests were sent to the Public Record Office and if it was not there that was it. However I am of the opinion that there must be more there. I believe they would have records of what courts sat on what days and who presided. Juries are often used so a record of their 'call-up' and presence must be somewhere. > I had previously thought it could have been just one of them that had gone through the system unrecorded and may in fact be in a box of inquests around the January/February period for that year, and if I could go through them all may come across it. So with the help of 'Scott' at the PRO I was able to ascertain the Unit Number of two boxes containing inquests for that period. This morning I went to the PRO and viewed both boxes, but the inquest was not there. The inquests are numbered from 0001 at the beginning of each year from when the inquest is held, regardless of the date of death. Unfortunately the first box contained the papers for murders which occurred at the end of the year. Three women were murdered and an American Service man was executed for their deaths all of which was noted the following year and thus recorded there. The photographs were disturbing. > However I did note that there was one number missing and on checking the Inquest CD nothing was issued for that particular number - I wonder if this is the one I want. > My next port of call is Police Records. I noted that they were at the scene of the accident and when I have read previous inquests oftentimes it is a carbon copy in the file so the original must be kept in Police Archives. Because the event occurred less than 75 years ago I may have to go through Freedom of Information. > I will keep you posted of what the final outcome is, and if you have any ideas of research please let me know. > Bye for now, > Mary of Melbourne

Hi Mary, I agree, you always end up finding out something interesting when you are helping someone else! Ronda ----- Original Message ----- From: "MM" <elthamlax@techinfo.com.au> To: <AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 2:27 PM Subject: [HC] RESEARCH > Hello Listers, > Seeing as things are so quiet of late I thought I would relate one of my current projects. It may help some with ideas of how to find information.................and I apologise in advance to those who already know. > I often assist people overseas, interstate or in country areas with obtaining documents from the PRO here in Melbourne, a place I seem to be addicted to. > I recently answered a request from a man in New Zealand who was looking for the inquest/s of his grandparents. He had previous asked lists giving their names but had been told there was nothing on the Inquest CD, and I noted the same. He further quoted newspaper reports of the day which indicated they had been hit by a vehicle driven by an unlicensed 17 year old. He also had his grandfather's death certificate which gave the date of the inquest and the coroner's name. Family stories were that the driver was related to 'a family' and things were kept quiet. > This sounded like an interesting one so I decided to help him and did some further searches on the Inquest CD and found a man with the same first name who had been 'hit by a car' in the same year, however this man's death was not recorded on the Death CD. I wondered if the surname of this inquest could have been a mistake and maybe the name of the driver of the vehicle? (I have found anything is possible). > So off the PRO to view this inquest, which turned out not to the be one we were looking for, but a further example of how diligent we must be when looking for information on our ancestors - i.e. shown on the Inquest CD but not the Death CD. > After talking to the people at the PRO we decided my next course of action was the original Inquest Microform Reel which shows the actual register book that records inquests and the number they are given. The year I was looking for was shown as an alphabetical volume and there was nothing for the surname I was wanting. I next checked the Police Gazette for the relevant year and as the accident had occurred a few days into January and the inquest had been held in the middle of February there were not too many pages to read. However being an incurable "?" I got side tracked so many times reading reports of stolen property, absconders, recent releases of jailed offenders etc. not to mention the lists of Police enlistments and promotions. After two sessions of reading I could find no reference to the accident. (By the way these are indexed and are just wonderful reading) > My next stop was the Coroner's Court here in Melbourne, but unfortunately I did not receive any help there. They simply stated that after 10 years all inquests were sent to the Public Record Office and if it was not there that was it. However I am of the opinion that there must be more there. I believe they would have records of what courts sat on what days and who presided. Juries are often used so a record of their 'call-up' and presence must be somewhere. > I had previously thought it could have been just one of them that had gone through the system unrecorded and may in fact be in a box of inquests around the January/February period for that year, and if I could go through them all may come across it. So with the help of 'Scott' at the PRO I was able to ascertain the Unit Number of two boxes containing inquests for that period. This morning I went to the PRO and viewed both boxes, but the inquest was not there. The inquests are numbered from 0001 at the beginning of each year from when the inquest is held, regardless of the date of death. Unfortunately the first box contained the papers for murders which occurred at the end of the year. Three women were murdered and an American Service man was executed for their deaths all of which was noted the following year and thus recorded there. The photographs were disturbing. > However I did note that there was one number missing and on checking the Inquest CD nothing was issued for that particular number - I wonder if this is the one I want. > My next port of call is Police Records. I noted that they were at the scene of the accident and when I have read previous inquests oftentimes it is a carbon copy in the file so the original must be kept in Police Archives. Because the event occurred less than 75 years ago I may have to go through Freedom of Information. > I will keep you posted of what the final outcome is, and if you have any ideas of research please let me know. > Bye for now, > Mary of Melbourne >