While working recently at BRHAE, Amy Tsilemanis prepared research notes on how to trace Ballarat businesses using the resources at BRHAE. This includes both the City of Ballarat’s Australiana Research Collection (ARC) and the Public Record Office of Victoria collection (PROV). Amy’s notes are quite extensive, and we trust researchers will find them useful in their family and local history research:
Piecing together information and images on Ballarat businesses is a popular research topic at BRHAE. Here are some tips on using the various resources available, both at BRHAE and online, and some interesting examples of what you can find.
The business history of Ballarat shows a fascinating multicultural community including Italian grocers, Chinese herbalists and many more. To help you discover these rich stories, the ARC has a range of books, including business directories, and material on microfiche such as Ballarat newspapers from 1846-2003 and an index of the Ballarat Courier Births, Deaths and Marriages.
The Public Record Office of Victoria (PROV) also has much-used material such as rate books, parish plans, and council minutes, with the majority of Ballarat content digitised, and the remaining can be ordered for viewing at BRHAE.
First up - a couple of useful things for Ballarat researchers to know:
- Ballarat East and West councils amalgamated in 1921 https://www.eurekacentreballarat.com.au/blog/amalgamation-ballarat-east-and-west
-There were changes to street numbering in 1904/05 https://bih.federation.edu.au/index.php/Street_Locations
PROV has a list of Council wards for Ballarat and street names within the wards to make searching their rate books that much easier. They also have information on changes to street names.
So, you have a business name, or an address and you are curious to know more, then a great place to start is with the Street and Business Directories. These directories have some amazing advertisements and maps for the vintage graphic and typology lovers too!
On microfiche at BRHAE you can access Sands and McDougal Postal Directories from 1901-1930. BRHAE also has some physical Sands and McDougal Directories of Victoria, ranging between 1946 and 1974. You can search these in three different ways - by suburb and street, by alphabetical listings, and by trade or service. You can also access these via the State Library of Victoria through a recent digitisation project – they digitised in five-year increments from 1860. These are available online through their website and the complete hardcopy of this resource is available at State Library of Victoria. One thing to keep in mind is that the coverage of regional Victoria did not begin until 1902. Prior to this, these directories only covered Melbourne and its suburbs.
There are various books within the collection that can be used to trace a business that existed in Ballarat. These include Cornershop's of Ballarat, Ballarat and District in 1901, Ballarat Illustrated and Ballarat Hotels past and present. As well as many individual business histories, you will also discover treasures like editions of the Lucas Factory House Magazine from the 1950s and 1960s detailing the lives, style and humour of employees.
If you are looking for photographs of Ballarat’s past, BRHAE has a photographic collection that can be searched through. There are also several books containing photographs that are held in ARC of Ballarat's past. These include Panoramas of Ballarat and Ballarat the Golden City. Other places worth considering include the State Library of Victoria. Ballarat Historical Society, Public Record Office Victoria, and Victorian Collections. All have extensive photographic collections of Ballarat through their websites.
Other collections that are worth exploring include:
Sovereign Hill collection: https://sovereignhill.com.au/collections-research
Federation University Australia Historical Collection: https://victoriancollections.net.au/organisations/federation-university-historical-collection#collection-records
Ballarat and District Industrial Heritage Project: https://bih.federation.edu.au/index.php/Ballarat_and_District_Industrial_Heritage_Project
Ballarat Revealed Walking Tours: https://ballaratrevealed.com/
Trove (National Library of Australia) for newspaper articles and ephemera: https://trove.nla.gov.au/
Sources:
Ballarat and District 1901. Melbourne Vic; Periodicals Publishing Company. 1901
Ballarat Illustrated: for enterprise, education and health. Ballarat Vic; Campbell Wilson Pty Ltd. 1972.
John Reid, John Chisholm & Max Harris. Ballarat the Golden City. Bacchus Marsh Vic; Jovial Commercial Production. 1989
Corner Shops of Ballarat. Ballarat Vic; Ballarat Branch of National Trust. 2009
Max Harris and Jennifer Burrell. Panoramas of Ballarat. Ballarat Vic; Harris House of Photography. 1998
Sands and Macdougall Postal Directories. Melbourne Vic; Sands and Macdougall.
Niven Street Directory for Ballarat. Ballarat Vic; F.W. Niven Mining and General Stationer.
Weston Bate. Private lives public heritage. Melbourne Vic; Hutchinson. 1986
Spectator: Lucas house magazine. Ballarat Vic; Lucas House. 1948
