Ancestry adds divorce and coroner inquest records for Victoria, Australia

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has recently added two new collection for the Australian state of Victoria, accessible on its worldwide subscription, which may help with your emigrated relatives. The following are the details, with the relevant Ancestry descriptions:

Victoria, Australia, Divorce Records, 1860-1940
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61565/
Source: Divorce Case Files, 1860-1940. VPRS 283 (Supreme Court of Victoria Divorce Files) and VPRS 552 (Ballarat Divorce Case Files). Public Record Office Victoria, North Melbourne, Victoria.

About Victoria, Australia, Divorce Records, 1860-1940

This collection is comprised of divorce records from the state of Victoria in south-eastern Australia. From the Public Record Office Victoria website on this collection:

“The case file will contain a number of documents that might include:

• the petition stating the grievance
• affidavits (or supporting statements) by the petitioner
• a formal answer by the respondent and any co-respondents (in cases of adultery, both parties to the adultery were summoned)
• further affidavits in support of that answer
• orders by the court directing who is to pay for the costs of the case
• a praecipe, which is an order to the clerks of the Court to produce a writ containing the formal decree made by the justice. The praecipe will often have a summary of the decision

Note that not all cases were heard. Sometimes they were withdrawn before the hearing or otherwise settled.”

“Divorce files and cause books.” Public Record Office Victoria. 9 April 2019, https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/divorce-files-and-cause-books


Also:

Victoria, Australia, Coroner Inquest Deposition Files, 1840-1925
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61863/
Source: Coroner Inquest Deposition Files, 1840-1925. VPRS 24 (Inquest Deposition Files). Public Record Office Victoria, North Melbourne, Victoria.

About Victoria, Australia, Coroner Inquest Deposition Files, 1840-1925

This database contains Coroner Inquest Deposition Files from Victoria, Australia.

From the Public Record Office Victoria website on this collection:

An inquest is a legal inquiry held to establish the exact medical cause of death of an individual in certain circumstances. Where the inquest found a death was the result of a crime, it could also commit an accused for trial.

The inquest records relate to deaths that occurred when a person died suddenly, was killed, died whilst in prison, drowned, died whilst a patient in an asylum, or was an infant ward of the state and died under suspicious circumstances, among other circumstances.

“Inquests into deaths (deposition files 1840-1985).” Public Record Office Victoria. 13 June 2019, https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/inquests-and-other-coronial-records/inquests-deaths-deposition

Chris

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