Researching your Victorian ancestors

Every year each local council is required to make and levy rates in respect of all rateable properties within its municipal district. The rate record is a record of the levying and payment of rates on these properties.

For each rateable property a record is created which includes information on the property, the names of the owner and occupier, the date, annual value of the property, the amounts due, amounts paid and arrears. The level of information may vary between each municipality/local council.

State Library Victoria

You can find a small collection of rate books in the State Library. Try searching the library catalogue using the terms 'rate books' or rate assessment'. This will list most of the State Library holdings of rate books. Or try searching for the name of the council or borough area and the term 'rate' for more specific results. For example; rate Yackandandah or rate Minhamite.

Public Record Office Victoria

The Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) has an extensive collection of rate records, with many of their pre-1930 records now available online. For more information, or to search their collection, please go to their Rate records page.

List of known rate books

The following PDF contains a list of known Victorian rate book holdings, including records held at the State Library Victoria, PROV and some regional heritage centres. The list includes the location of the historic rate books, their date coverage and links to online records.

Where else?

Check with the relevant local public library, historical or family history society or regional archive centre for the area you are researching, to see if their historical rate book collections are available.

Ancestry

The following rate books, held at PROV, are available online through the Ancestry Library Edition database. This database can be accessed onsite at the State Library and is also available in most Victorian public libraries.