This week I’m going to veer off into an area that I’m guessing a lot of people will have heard of but won’t quite know what it is or where.
This week I’m going to cover The Gazette with a focus on Victoria, formerly Port Phillip, though this applies to each State of Australia as they have them as well. From a technical standpoint The Victoria Government Gazette provides official notification of decisions or actions taken by, or information from, the Governor of Victoria, Government Authorities, Government Departments, Local Councils, companies and individuals.
It’s been around since 1836 when as the New South Wales Gazette it was first published. It remained as such until 1840 when two versions were published – NSW and Port Phillip (later Victoria.) Then a third replacing the Port Phillip one, Victoria, was published starting from 1 July 1851, the date that Victoria came into being.
Now a lot of you will have heard of things being “Gazetted”, the best example being Public Holidays. Well, this is what the reference is to – being published as the official notification of the Government. The Gazette is still published and is available online for those that are interested.
Lately I’ve been reading the Port Phillip Gazette from around 1847 to 1850. Why, you ask? Well, it’s around this time that a series of laws were introduced in Port Phillip around land occupation outside of the “settled areas,” i.e. The Squatting Laws. At this time Port Phillip was still part of New South Wales and under its control, or Sir George Gipps to be more precise.
Squatting wasn’t new, in fact it had been going on in Port Phillip for at least 25 years by 1847 but what was new was that the Crown (Government) was getting a bit annoyed about it and the pretty much blatant disregard for authority. Sound familiar? Anyway, the laws were progressively introduced and they required those in “possession” of lands outside the settled areas, i.e. towns of Melbourne, Geelong and Portland to apply for leases / licences to “depasture lands.”
It’s a fascinating window into the times and development of the pastoral districts and settlement of Victoria. It’s through the definition of land that these leases related to (known as runs, or stations) that a lot of the development and make up of country Victoria came about. A lot of the names are still in place – either still as sheep or cattle stations, towns or locations. Some of my favourites are Glenormiston, Woady Yallock, Fiery Creek, Kuruck kuruck and, my absolute favorite and completely real is “Good Morning Bill Creek.” If you don’t believe me, look it up. It’s a 15km long creek just South West of Ararat.
Anyway, I digress. While the Government Gazette is certainly not for everyone it’s always handy to know what the Gazette is and where you can look it up.
Before I sign off this week I’ve been asked if I take requests and I’m happy to do so, but some might take me a little time to look into. So for Kelly I’m looking into some railways related material for a coming post.
Have fun out there. Until next time.
CG
Some links:
The archived Gazettes – the good stuff!
The current day ones: