Electronic resources beginning with ‘V’

The Official site of the 2010 Winter Games to be held in Vancouver, Canada, from 12-28 February, 2010.

Official website of the Vatican. Includes documents from the Vatican Library, Secret Archives & museums.

An interactive travel site for Europe, featuring city and country maps, route planner and weather advice. Produced by Via Michelin, a holding of the Michelin Group.

This site provides information on Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander music, sport, entertainment and lifestyle. It contains profiles of Indigenous music and sport stars and community identities. The site has a strong health focus as well as providing up to date Indigenous job vacancy listings, further education course guides, a national events guide, radio station directory and school based story writing competitions.

This site provides information on Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander music, sport, entertainment and lifestyle. It contains profiles of Indigenous music and sport stars and community identities. The site has a strong health focus as well as providing up to date Indigenous job vacancy listings, further education course guides, a national events guide, radio station directory and school based story writing competitions.

The Argus, the major Australian metropolitan daily of its time, was published in Melbourne from 1846 to 1957. It is the primary resource for data on 19th century Australia, widely recognised as the general Australian newspaper of record for the era. The 1870-1879 index is part of La Trobe University's Argus Index Project and the first available in this form.

This 2002 CDROM contains over 80,000 references compiled by Bruce Jefferson to birth notices between 1914 and 1931 and marriage announcements and anniversaries between 1931 and 1941 in the Victoria newspaper 'The Argus', which was a major Australian metropolitan daily published in Melbourne from 1846 to 1957.

Although most entries refer to births and marriages in Victoria there are several references to events interstate and overseas and to anniversaries of marriage outside this date range. Information for many 25, 50 and higher year anniversaries of marriage are included and you can search on the mother's maiden name in the birth notices. Some, but not all, of this information has been previously published on fiche. This index is also helpful in finding evidence for events that occurred during years not available from the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages due to their privacy policy (see Access to Records).

The Digger software search features include: advanced searches using Boolean or proximity searching; a list of all entries or words in a field can be viewed and selected into the search screen; truncation searches: ie Hall* retrieves Halls, Halloran, Haller etc; reverse truncation searches: ie *Donnell retrieves Donnell, O'Donnell, MacDonnell etc; wild card searches: ie Je*cott retrieves Jephcott, Jefcott and Jeffcott (great for finding those spelling mistakes!); 'like' (phonetic) searches: ie 'like' Myer locates Mier, Meyer etc; results can be viewed in list or single record formats; in list format the data can be sorted by any field.

The fiche versions of the index compiled by Bruce Jefferson, titled 'Melbourne Argus Index to Birth Notices, including cross-references to mother's maiden name' Part 1, 1914-1920 (5 fiche) and Part 2, 1921-1925 (6 fiche) published in 1994 and 'Melbourne Argus Index to Marriage Notices 1931-1940' (7 fiche) published in 1996, are located in the SRL Family History Service at, respectively, REF 10/N929.3945/23 & 25 & 29.

A list of 24 Argus indexes can be found on the NSW State Library's online catalogue using subject search 'Argus (Melbourne, Vic.) -- Indexes'. Marion Button has compiled the following indexes: Argus BDM indexes for the periods 1846 to 1865; Argus Missing Friends Index for 1851 to 1855; Argus Passenger Index for 1846 to 1868; Argus Shipping Movements Index for 1846 to 1868; and Victorian Argus Court Reports 1851 to 1856. These are all on fiche in SRL's Family History Service.

J. A. Feely, who was Chief Librarian at the Melbourne Public Library (now the State Library of Victoria), compiled a general Argus Index for 1846 to 1859 which was followed by Geraldine Suter's Argus Index for 1860 to 1869. They are held both in Mitchell and SRL libraries. Their is also an online Argus Index for 1870 to 1879 at National Library of Australia - The Argus Index.

An Argus Index for 1910 to 1945 is in SRL at REF 6/S079/A694 and Mitchell Library at REF 1/079/A.

In 1983 the History and Heritage committee of Victoria's 150th Anniversary Board took up the idea of filling in the index period gaps and thus the Argus Index Project was born. Further details at The Argus Index Project

Compiled by the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society in conjunction with the publisher, the Genealogical Society of Victoria, this 2006 CDROM has as its full title 'Ballarat Cemeteries and Crematorium - Indexed Transcripts of Memorials in the Old & New Cemeteries & Burial & Cremation Registers'. It has entries for some 130,000 individuals for the period 1856 to 2005.These include 70,000 for the Ballarat New Cemetery (1867-2005) plus headstone transcriptions and 25,000 cremations for the Ballarat Crematorium (1958-2005).

The Index of Names section give you the following information: Surname, First Name/s, Age, Occupation, Date, Cemetery, and Location. The Register of Burials section contains the following: Surname, First Name/s, Age, Buried, Residence, Occupation, Area, Section, and Remarks. There is also a useful key to the abbreviations used in the remarks.The Crematorium register shows: Name, Age, Date of death, Date of cremation, Residence, Name of applicant, Memorial location.

Inscriptions in German, Gaelic, French, Welsh, Hebrew and many hundreds in Chinese script have been indexed. Chinese outnumbered every other ethnic group except the English.

Areas were reserved by the Cemeteries Trust for charitable institutions such as the Benevolent Home, Nazareth House and orphanages. Many graves remain unmarked but some have impressive monuments erected by the rich or by public subscription. The memorials to the soldiers and diggers who died in the Eureka uprising of 1854 are fenced separately.

This CD includes the following:

* A brief introduction to the contents of the CD.

* Transcripts of memorials in the Old and New Cemeteries, and on the Wall erected in memory of babies. Transcripts of the Old Cemetery include the surnames of the owners of the graves

* An index of names on the above memorials and of grave owners. Each name is hyperlinked to the page of transcripts that contains the relevant information. This alphabetical index is searchable using Adobe Acrobat Reader.

* Two sets of indexes of registers with the kind permission of the Ballarat General Cemeteries Trust.

* A single alphabetical index of the burial registers of the Old and New Cemeteries, and the Cremations, from their inception to May 2005, searchable using the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

* Three separate indexes of the Old and New Cemeteries, and the Cremations, from their inception to 1989. These have more detail than the set described above. They are in alphabetical order of name and were previously published on microfiche.

* Current maps of the Ballarat Old and New Cemeteries, showing the location of the various sections.

* A detailed background to the transcriptions of the memorials and surnames of grave owners in the Old Cemetery, and some history of the cemeteries and crematorium

Further information on this indexing project can be found at Ballarat Cemeteries Index. Contact details for the Ballarat General Cemeteries & Crematorium are : Lydiard Street North, Ballarat, Victoria,3350. Phone: (61 3) 5332 1469 Fax: (61 3) 5333 5869 Email: balgcem@netconnect.com.au

Mitchell Library has a Consolidated Index to Ballarat District Cemeteries, published by the Ballarat & District Genealogical Society in 1995, on fiche at MAV/FM6/622. It also holds the 1988 title 'Burials with Irish locations in Ballarat Old and New Cemeteries' by Gwen Dixon, Joy Menhennet & Lois Reynolds at 929.5099457/1 . SRL holds 'Remembered in Stone : Headstone Verses of the Ballarat General Cemeteries' published by Marg McPhee in 2001-2 and located in stack at N929.50994/ 8 SET

Written by Geoffrey R. Grinton for the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies ( AIGS ) in 2003, this CD lists 172,324 entries from 258 cemeteries. Cemeteries are mainly from Victoria but there are a few for South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania. Details included where available: Number (on the database), Surname, Given Name/s, Age, Cemetery, Burial Date, Death Date, the availability of more details, a source reference.

You can access information in various ways: alphabetically by surname, cemetery and surname, cemetery and date, death/burial date.

Cemeteries included are as follows:

Victoria - Alberton; Amherst/Talbot; Amphitheatre/Glenlogie; Andersons Creek, Warrandyte; Antwerp/Ebenezer Mission; Avoca; Bairnsdale; Ballan Old; Ballangeich; Balmoral; Bannockburn, Baringhup,Barkly; Beenak; Bellbrae/Jan Juc; Benalla; Benalla (Part); Berwick; Birregurra; Blue Mountain; Boort; Boram Boram; Box Hill; Branxholme; Briagolong; Bright; Brighton; Broadford; Buangor; Buckland; Bundalong; Bungaree; Bunyip; Burramine; Burwood; Byaduk; Byaduk North; Campbells Creek/Castlemaine; Camperdown; Cape Bridgewater; Caramut; Carisbrook; Casterton Old; Cavendish; Cheltenham; Cheltenham Old; Chewton; Clunes; Cobden; Coghills Creek; Corinella; Corop; Corryong; Cressy; Creswick; Crib Point; Cudgewa; Darlington; Dartmoor; Daylesford; Deans Marsh/Bambra; Dergholm; Derrinallum; Digby; Donnybrook; Dookie; Dookie East; Drik Drik; Dromana; Dunkeld Old; Dunolly Old Pioneer; Eddington; Eganstown/Roman Catholic; Eganstown General; Ellerslie; Elmhurst; Elphinstone; Flinders, Footscray, Framlingham, Franklinford, Freshwater Creek, Fryerstown, Garvoc, Gembrook, Glen Wills, Glenlyon, Gordon, Gowangardie, Granite Flat, Gray’s Bridge,Graytown, Greta, Guildford, Harkaway, Harrietville, Hastings, Hawkesdale, Hazelwood/Morwell, Heathcote, Heidelberg, Heidelberg/Alphington, Heidelberg-Warringal, Hepburn East, Smeaton, Hezham, Heywood, Joyces Creek, Kangaroo Flat, Kangaroo Ground, Kerang, Kilcunda, Kilnoorat, Kingower, Korong Vale, Krambruk/Apollo Bay, Kyneton, Lake Rowan, Leongatha, Lexton, Lilydale, Lismore, Loch Ard, Lockwood, Longwood, Macarthur, Majorca, Maldon, Marong, Maryborough, Maryknoll, Marysville, Merbein, Meredith, Mildura, Mildura - W.G.P.; Millers Hill Pioneer, Moliagul, Moonambel, Morrisons, Mortlake, Mount Duneed, Mount Egerton, Mount Moriac, Mount Prospect, Myamyn/Condah, Myrtleford,Myrtleford New, Myrtleford Old, Mysia, Nagambie, Nambrok, Nangana/Emerald, Narrawong,Natte Yallock; Navarre Old; Newbridge; Newstead/Green Gully; Nirranda; Nyah; Oakleigh/Mulgrave; Oakleigh Pioneer Memorial Park; Outtrim; Pakenham; Panmure; Paynesville; Pine Lodge South; Point Gellibrand; Point Nepean; Port Campbell; Port Fairy; Portarlington; Pyalong; Pyramid Hill; Queenscliff; Redbank; Redcastle; Rheola; Rodborough; Rosebery; Rosedale; Rupanyup; Rushworth; Sailors Home/Blackheath; San Remo; Sandon Roman Catholic; Scotts Creek; Seymous Old; Shelford; Skipton; Smeaton; Smythesdale; Sorrento/Portsea; Speed; Spring Hill; Staffordshire Reef; Stawell; Steiglitz; Strathbogie; Stuart Mill; Sutton Grange; Talbot; Tarnagulla; Tarrawingee; Tarrayoukyan; Teesdale; Templestowe; Terang; Terrappee; Thomastown-German; Timor; Tongala; Tooan; Toongabbie; Tower Hill; Trentham; Tyaak; Vaughan; Waanyarra/Dunolly; Wallan; Walpeup; Wareek/Bung Bong; Warrak/Mount Cole; Warrnambool; Waterloo; Waubra; Werribee; Wesburn; White Hills; Whitehills; Whroo; Williamstown; Woods Point; Woolsthorpe; Woorndoo; Wycheproof; Yambuk; Yan Yean; Yaugher.

New South Wales - Cassilis; Corunna; Dubbo Old; Kiandra; Nambucca Heads; Tilba Tilba.

South Australia - Andamooka; Eurambeen; Gawler; Kanyaka,; Mundulla; Pancharoo; Peters Hill Old, Ettrick;Springfield; Wilmington.

Tasmania - Old Beach St George’s Church of England; Tea Tree, St Thomas.

This publication lists approx 3500 licenses for the years 1851, 1852, 1854 and 1855. It was presented to Parliament in 1856. It is arranged by district and includes summaries for each district by year.

The information given (where recorded) includes:

name of licensee

name of run

quantity of land in each station

number of licenses charged for each station

license fee

amount of stock - broken down by horses, cattle and sheep

assessment of stock

A Federation Fund Project for the Frankston City Council, this CDROM is a companion to the book Frankston 1950-2000, an oral/pictorial history published in 2000, and an earlier project, Fishing, sand and village days : an oral history of Frankston from the early 1900s to 1950, published by Frankston City Library in 1985.

Includes links to Acts, Regulations, Bills and Parliamentary Debates or Hansard.

Produced by the Genealogical Society of Victoria and Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies in 2001, this CDROM is an index and monumental inscription transcriptions of Melbourne General Cemetary to 1989.

This is a facsimile copy of the 5 published directories. It contains over 2000 images of original pages. Information includes a listing of house holders in alphabetical order, a listing by street of the house holder, a list of trade and professional people, government and church information, advertisements and an almanac for some years.

Produced by the Wangaratta Family History Society and the Wangaratta Cemetery Trust in May 2002, the CDROM comprises two major sections: a Burial Register Index by name and a Memorials Index, including inscriptions.

The Burial Register Index contains about 14,000 entries up to 1999 while the more detailed Memorials Index contains about 8,700 entries.

Plans of the layouts of the Old and New Cemetery assist in identifying the location of burial sections and plots.

It also includes information on the history of the Wangaratta Cemetery and famous people interred therein.

You can search this list for names of people whose estates underwent the probate process in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Details include date of death, date of grant, occupation, residence and file number. This database is maintained by the Public Record Office Victoria

The Victoria Divorce Index 1861–1900 is an online database produced by Macbeth Genealogical Services, compiled in 1990 by Wendy Baker and Sue McBeth from records held by the Public Record Office of Victoria.

Divorce case files normally hold the following information: full name of husband and wife, including wife's maiden or birth name; birth place of husband and wife; age of husband and wife; date and place of marriage; how petitioner, (the spouse filing for divorce) supported him or herself prior to the marriage; a precis of their married life; existence of children; and reasons for petitioning for divorce.

The records used in compiling this index were VPRS 5335: Index to divorce cases; and VPRS 283: Divorce case files. It should be noted that some files from VPRS 283 no longer exist and some are too fragile to view or copy.

For some couples more than one file was opened. In the case of a female the surname refers to the married, maiden, or birth surname, or previous married name of a woman, or to an alias.

Please note that if you do a search and the result does not have the surname you have requested it is because the surname is hidden aa an alternative surname or alias of one of the couples.

A file can be ordered in the Public Record Office of Victoria search room and viewed. However, the Public Record Office of Victoria does not operate a research service. No files may be retrieved by mail, email or fax.

State Library of Victoria website providing pdf images of every page of every gazette and government notice relevant to the State of Victoria produced since 1836 as well as searchable indexes for each publication. These include: (1) New South Wales Government Gazette 1836 - 1851; (2) Port Phillip Government Notices January - 12 July 1843; (3) Port Phillip Government Gazette January 1844 - July 1851; and (4) Victoria Government Gazette July 1851 - 1997.

Government gazettes contain information about land transactions, court notices, government appointments, bankruptcies, proclamation of acts, deregistration of medical practitioners, statistics, tenders, unclaimed letters and monies, reward notices, and more.

Before Victoria separated from NSW in 1851 government notices, regulations, forms and orders relating to the Port Phillip District were published initially in the NSW Government Gazette, then the Port Phillip Government Notices, and later in the Port Phillip Government Gazette (from 1843).

The first issue of the Victoria Government Gazette was published on 9 July 1851. Early issues were published once a week until 1854, when two issues a week were produced. By the 20th century the frequency was almost daily, increasing to as many as nine or ten issues in a day. In 1987 the gazettes were split and published in three series: General, Periodical and Special.

No copies are known to exist for the period 19 July-December 1843. Gazette information for this period may be in the Port Phillip Herald newspaper (held by the State Library of NSW) under the 'Melbourne Government Gazette' column.

This database is an index to passengers travelling on ships leaving Victoria for interstate, UK, NZ and foreign ports between 1852 and 1896. The index is being prepared by PROV volunteers and further instalments up to 1923 will be published as they are completed.

This site provides links to Victorian Government information. It includes links to information about the Victorian Parliament and the Victorian state and local governments. The site also includes the full text of Victorian Hansard since 1991.

Public Record Office Victoria ( PROV ) is the archives of the State Government of Victoria. PROV holds records from the European settlement of Port Phillip district in the mid-1830s to today.

The collection includes records of immigration and shipping, criminal trials and prisons, premiers and governors, royal commissions and boards of inquiry.

Online indexes include an index to Unassisted Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria 1852-1923; index to Assisted British Immigration 1839-1871; index to Outward Passengers to Interstate, U.K. and Foreign Ports, 1852-1896; index to Victorian Wills, Probate and Administration Records 1841-1925; Index to Teacher Record Books, 1863-1959;

This CDROM contains indexes and images of over 6,200 registrations of births, deaths and marriages on board ships coming to Victoria between 1853 and 1920 (the 'Marine Registers'). Over 1,350 ships can be searched using the ship's name.

An index of passengers to Victoria from Britain between 1839 and 1871. As assisted immigrants their passage was subsidised by the Victorian Government.

An index to names of unassisted passengers who arrived in Victoria from British and foreign ports between 1852 and 1923. The Public Record Office Victoria website also provides research guides and information about the office's collections and services.

This 1999 CD-ROM titled 'Immigration to Victoria 1852-79 : Index to Inward Passenger Lists, British and Foreign Ports' and produced by the Public Record Office of Victoria in conjuction with Macbeth Genealogical Services, indexes unassisted passenger lists on vessels from Britain and other foreign ports to Victoria for the period 1852 to 1879. New Zealand ports and Australian coastal ports are excluded as well as ships carrying assisted passengers from Britain.

Information available in this index includes:Surname, Given names, Ship, Month, Year and Age.

A 977 fiche version for the period 1852-1923 is available in SRL Family History Service at REF 10/N929.3945/40 SET. Details are: 1852-1859 (no. 1-171) -- 1860-1869 (no. 172-289) -- 1870-1879 (no. 290-376) -- 1880-1889 (no. 377-524) -- 1890-1899 (no. 525-654) -- 1900-1923 (no. 655-977)

The Public Records Office of Victoria website now provides online indexes to Inward Passenger Lists for British, Foreign and New Zealand Ports 1852-1923; Registers of Assisted British Immigrants 1839-1871; and Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports 1852-1876. View at PROV’s Digitised Records and Online Indexes : Immigration

This database contains over a million records of deaths registered in Victoria under a compulsory registration system introduced in 1853.Death records include the surname and given names of the deceased, the names of the deceased's parents including mother's maiden name where known (up to 1979), the age of the deceased, the place of death or registration, the year of registration and the registration number.

This CD-ROM contains an index of birth, death and marriage records for Victoria. You can search by place of registration and parents' names as well as surname and given name for flexible searching.

This CD-Rom contains indexes of registrations of births, deaths and marriages from 1889 to 1901. The information varies over time, but most entries include the following: Births: Name of child; names of parents, including mother's maiden name; sex of child; place of birth or registration; and year and number of registration. Deaths: Name of deceased; names of parents, including mother's maiden name; sex of deceased (to 1895); age of deceased; place of death of deceased; and year and Number of registration. Marriages: Names of both parties to marriage; sex of person named in search (to 1895); place of birth of person named in search; and year and number of registration.

This site provides information on the history of the Victorian flag and includes links to information on Victorian flags covering the periods from 1870 to 1877, 1877 to 1901 and 1901 to 1953.

This CD-ROM contains an index of death and marriage records only for Victoria. You can search by place of registration and parents' names as well as surname and given name for flexible searching.

This is an index to inquests performed in the Australian state of Victoria between the years 1840 and 1985. The information available varies markedly for different year ranges. Information you might find on this CD-ROM includes: Surname, Given names, Age, Year, Sex, Place of death, Cause of death. Some entries also contain: Nationality, Ship of arrival, Occupation.

A guide to the Victorian era on the web.

This CDROM from the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages contains nearly 800,000 index entries representing over 300,000 marriages registered in Victoria from 1921 to 1942. The searchable fields include the family and given names of both parties to the marriage, the registration year and the registration number.

This CDROM contains indexes of civil registrations of births, deaths and marriages from 1853 to 1888, and early church baptisms, burials and marriages from 1836. The information varies over time, but most entries include the following: Births: Name of child; names of parents, including mother's maiden name; place of birth or registration; and year and number of registration. Deaths: Name of deceased; names of parents, including mother's maiden name; age of deceased; place of birth of deceased (to 1880); place of death of deceased (from 1881); and year and number of registration. Marriages: Names of both parties to marriage; sex of person named in search; place of birth of person named in search (from 1866); and year and number of registration.

This service allows you to search Victorian indexes of:

Births 1853 to 1907

Marriages 1853 to 1942

Deaths 1853 to 1985

Church baptisms, marriages and burials 1836 to 1853 - these are full records but they contain limited information;

Business and internet directory for Vietnam.

Links to resources about various religions. Compiled by the Religion Department of Rutgers University, New Jersey.

Developed by the Board of Studies NSW and the Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs especially for students and teachers of Australian history and geography. Many of the photographs, artworks and documents discovered in the archives of the State Library of NSW are published on this website.

An online collection of photographs, posters, paintings and other visual arts from many British repositories. Collections include war posters, women’s suffrage banners, portraits, architecture, furniture and fashion. Based at the Farnham Campus of The University College for the Creative Arts (UK).

This site provides links to ANU library catalogues, electronic journals, general art sites, art schools, galleries and museums.

The official site of the Vogel Award which is awarded to a writer under 35 years of age for an original unpublished manuscript of fiction or Australian history or biography. Includes current and past winners and some biographical information.

Emphasising both primary and secondary or theoretical resources, this site links to humanities-related resources on the Internet and points toward the transformation of those disciplines as they interact with the sciences and social sciences and with new digital media.

An educational site devoted to volcanoes on Earth and other worlds.