The following might be of interest: RootsWeb-Review@rootsweb.com Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 23:50:56 -0400 Subject: Missing Links, Vol. 5, No. 14 by Helen D. Harris OAM <hdharris@ozemail.com.au http://www.ozemail.com.au/~hdharris/missingpeople.html INDEX TO MISSING PEOPLE FOUND IN VICTORIA POLICE CORRESPONDENCE RECORDS. Compiled by Helen D. Harris OAM (c) Helen D. Harris OAM, 2000. The details listed below were located in uncatalogued and unindexed police correspondence files held in the Public Record Office, Victoria, Australia. These items all have one thing in common: they were written by people outside Australia, to the police department in Victoria, in an attempt to locate 'missing' individuals. The persons sought could be long-lost relatives or friends; husbands or wives who had deserted their spouses; suspected bigamists; or even people who had been in Victoria and who had committed a crime while overseas. The files contain widely differing material: some people supply only basic details about the sought person, others give a great deal of background information. The response from the police department likewise differs enormously. At times the department simply responded that the letter writer had supplied insufficient detail for any identification to be made; on other occasions the department went to a great deal of trouble to locate the missing person. There are over 2,000 boxes of material covering the period 1853 to 1940; there can be up to 300 files within each box. Many of the files relate to routine police business, but interspersed with these are files relating to missing people. What follows is a selection of these cases only - it would be the task of a lifetime to index every file in every box. Please note that I do not have this material in my possession; it is held at the Public Record Office. However, for a fee of $AUS15 per file plus photocopying costs, I am willing to organise copies of a file. Accessing these files requires a visit to the PRO, ordering the relevant box of material, locating the file, ordering a photocopy and collecting that copy about a week later. ARRANGING PHOTOCOPIES OF THE FILES. 1. Note the names, date and detail of the file, including the number of pages involved. 2. Work out the cost of photocopying, at 50c. per page, as charged by the Public Record Office. Add $AUS15 retrieval fee for each file. 3. Send a cheque in Australian Dollars made out to Harriland Press to P.O. Box 92, Forest Hill, Australia, 3131. Please include two International Reply Paid Coupons for return postage if outside Australia, otherwise a 90c Australian stamp. 4. Remember to supply your own address, including if possible an email address. 5. You will be emailed when your letter arrives and the photocopies are ordered, and again when your order has been posted to you. HALL, Ellen. See entry for NEWBOLD, Ellen HALL, George. See entry for NEWBOLD, Ellen. NEWBOLD, Ellen wrote from South Africa in 1903. A former army nursing sister, she had met Sidney Ewan HALL of 5th Vic. Mounted Rifles in Pretoria 1901 and married him in 1902. Now believes he was already married and he and his first wife were formerly of WILLIAMSON MUSGROVE OPERATIC CO. He had brothers George and Marshall. 7 pages. HALL, Isabel of Mt. View Santa Clara, California wrote in 1898 re her father Thomas HALL, born England, now believed to be in Melbourne. 12 pages. HALL, Marshall. See entry for NEWBOLD, Ellen. HALL, Sydney Ewan. See entry for NEWBOLD, Ellen. HALL, Thomas. See entry for HALL, Isabel. ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.