In the second presentation of Family History Feast,  Daniel Wilksch, from the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) presented on Old records, new access at the Public Record Office Victoria.

PROV hold the Victorian Government records, which can provide a wealth of information for genealogists. Types of records include, will and probate records, inquests, land records, passenger lists, mental health records, prisoner records and more.

Thanks to the help of volunteers, popular records such as will and probate records up to 1925 and indexes to inwards and outwards shipping are available online through the PROV website.

Some interesting facts about PROV.  They have:
– documented around 4500 government agencies
– over 90 (shelf) km of paper, photographs..etc (gee, that’s a lot!)
– over a million electronic records

Daniel also announced some rather exciting news for family historians, the Victorian inquests records are going online!  Inquests records up to 1925 have been digitised and the first batch will be added to the PROV website by the end of the year. Can’t wait to check out my great great grandfather’s file!