East Loddon Shire minute books
Date Range: 11 August 1871 - 10 December 1992
(& East Loddon District Road Board 16 Aug 1870 - 13 Jul 1871)
Public Record Office Victoria Series No: 16928/P1 Units 1-21; 1870 - 1961
Public Record Office Victoria Series No: 16928/P2 Units 1-11; 1961 - 1992
Minutes of council meetings were created in accordance with section 145 of the Municipal Institutions Act 1863 (27 Vic., No.184) and with subsequent legislation relating to local government including the Local Government Act 1958 (No.6299). Many local government bodies in existence prior to 1863 maintained records of their meetings in the form of minutes.
These acts have required that for each meeting of council, minutes of all proceedings are recorded together with the names of all councillors present and all who vote for and against motions. The master set of minutes is also required to be signed by the mayor or chairman of the meeting once the minutes have been confirmed at the following council meeting. The minutes relate to the wide range of activities for which the council is responsible, including building, community services, collection of rates, property valuation and town planning.
The committee system is employed by most Victorian councils. The Local Government Act 1903 (No.1893) removed the requirement that separate committee minutes be kept and introduced the requirement that committees' reports to council be included in the council minutes. In some cases, the minutes of committees are recorded in the council minute books, either in lieu of or in addition to committee reports. Where committee minutes were maintained in separate volumes they constitute a separate series from the council minutes.
The 32 original hard copy volumes of the East Loddon Shire Council have been transferred to the custody of the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) and date from 11 August 1871 to 10 December 1992. The first volume also contains the minutes of the predecessor to the Shire - the East Loddon District Road Board - for the period 16 August 1870 to 13 July 1871.
Please note that there are differences between the digitised copies and the original volumes. The original volumes may cover a range of years, whereas the digitised copies have been done per calendar year. A complete listing of the dates of the original volumes can be viewed through the PROV catalogue.