Public Record Office, Victoria

[judb]

Oh my, PROV what have you done?

PROV has up-dated and modernised its searches so as to make it much trickier for researchers to navigate (for this researcher anyway!)

I've so far only looked at Wills and Immigration records which used to come up with a neat list, all on one page, easy to speed-read and easy to correlate other family members.

Looking for my John MASON as an example it comes up with a snazzy yellow page with about 9 entries on a screen and I've yet to figure out how to find who came with him and others such as other relatives who may have come on the same voyage.  (I do have the info on John MASON; was just using it to see how it works)

On the Wills and Probate page you seem to have to search both sections.

I suppose PROV paid some whiz-kids many $$s to come up with this very eye-catching but very annoyingly inconvenient new way to access their indexes. 

Perhaps it's just me 

Judith

[majm]

I have a theory Judith.... The latest and greatest IT experts have not ever experienced working with manual office admin procedures, so have strict IF/THEN and YES/NO as the words that govern their basic operations.  Their square is diminishing in size and they don't look outside that square. 

Fortunately only a couple of my ancestors were in Victoria (gold fever), as most of my Australian ancestors were NSW based, earliest in the 1790s, and most were here well and truly before the gold rushes.  So all four of my grandparents were born in NSW in the 1870s-80s. 

But NSW Archives cannot even decide on its own name!  It has reverted back to the familiar "Archives" and retained the newer  "Records" as well, and there's still issues with some of their online indexes despite their upgrade months ago.    NSW BDM went through huge stuff up when it tried to outdo all other puterised BDM systems.   And you should see the mess they are cooking up in our Land Titles as they move to privatise that system.

Sorry I cannot be more positive Judith.  But I do empathise with you.

JM

[cando]

Words fail me .....thank goodness I have completed my family history in Victoria....and for once I'm glad I have a small family.

Why can't they keep things simple and neat and on one page instead of having to scroll through so many pages.

Cando 

[Wiggy]

Have to agree . . . .

 tried searching for something to which I knew the answer . . . . couldn't find my way around at all. 

Very sad.   

[Dundee]

You can still search each individual index, it just takes about 100 clicks to get there via the "Where to start" link on the main page.  Just find the pages and bookmark them for future use is the easiest way to go.  Like this one:

https://www.prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/family-history

The main collection search works much the same as the NAA search - all based on keywords.

Start by putting the name into the main collection search box at the top and search.  Then use the menu on the left to narrow down your search results by year then collection.  If you find a result that interests you, you can then search again using the same keywords but with just the surname.

So if I find:

MASON, JOHN

Ship: DALHOUSIE; Arrival Year: 1852; Arrival Month: JUL; Age: 32; Gender: M; Origin: ENG; Master: BUTTERWORTH JOHN; Origin port code: B; Fiche number: 4; Page of list: 4,

I can then search for the words - Mason Dalhousie Jul 1852 - and find that there was also a George MASON onboard.

The only good thing about it is that you are searching across all records and might find results that you weren't looking for, especially as they index more records.

Adding - an asterisk * is still the wildcard.

Debra 

[sparrett]

Without wanting to highjack the thread, I  do note Qld Archives have messed with the Assisted Immigration records too.
They seem to want to offer pages of information  before you can get to the actual index and then when at last you make the final click, the inquiry information you enter has to be very specific by name.

Previously one could simply search through the names of immigrants (let's say starting with S) and find the name you were seeking. The advantage was that also you very often spot it, if it had been a little misspelt by just scrolling a little this way or that.

It worked very well.

Sue
 

[judb]

Thanks Debra - at least a glimmer of sense.

I've sent off a "communication" of complaint to them, much good will it do.  Just thought perhaps some others might do the same 

And the yellow hurts my eyes.

[Wiggy]

It sure is bright!

I tried your method Debra but got nowhere . . . I confess I gave up fairly soon.  Too complicated cf with previous searches.

Will have to try again . . . .  later!   

[cando]

Pity the passenger lists hadn't been digitised by PROV instead of the 'commercial' arrangements with Ancestry.com.au.

Next Steps

You can view Unassisted Inward Overseas Passenger Lists (British Ports, Foreign and New Zealand) Record Series (VPRS) 947 on Ancestry.com.au

To view these records for free within Public Record Office Victoria Reading Rooms: Reading Room Access Only

Cando