Gazettes are published by governments and their agencies as a means of communication
to officials and the general public. As such they are useful, not only to monitor
the actions of the government, but also as far as family historians are concerned,
they are valuable primary source documents.
Government gazettes for a particular locality eventually become standardised with the type of material listed. In the 1860s you can expect the Government
Gazettes to include the following information that will usually list names and sometimes name of emigrant vessel, addresses and/or occupations:
- appointees to government positions
- appointments of Magistrates and Justices of the Peace
- arrears in council rates
- auctioneers, hoteliers, medical practitioners, surveyors, marriage celebrants
and licensees, pound keepers, hawkers, appraisers, storekeepers
- deceased estates
- depasturing, timber and wine licences
- deserted women seeking relief
- dissolution of business partnerships
- executors and administrators of estates
- felony suspects, their apprehenders, victims of crime
- insolvents
- land owners whose properties are to be brought under the Real property
Act
- members of the legal profession granted leave to appear before the Supreme
Court
- militia appointments, promotions, expulsions and resignations
- naturalisation
- petitioners to establish local government
- property owners subject to compulsory land acquisition by government
- property owners seeking to acquire an unutilised surveyed public road
- returning officers for legislative Council elections
- unclaimed letters
Truly a historians goldmine of information, the Government Gazettes contain a whole host of information covering all sectors of the community. There is bound to be something of interest here for everyone.
Usually issued weekly, with occasional 'Extraordinary' issues, this CD contains high quality scanned images of the whole years worth of issues. This CD has been bookmarked for easy navigation, and pages can be searched, browsed, enlarged and printed out if required.
