Public Record Office Victoria (PROV)

PROV is the archival authority for the State Government of Victoria. It identifies, houses and manages the State's collection of permanent value public records to ensure the Victorian government is accountable to the community and its historical memory is preserved, secure and accessible.

The Public Record Office Victoria collection consists of 10.7 million public records created by agencies of the Victorian Government as defined by the Public Records Act.

Public records created in the Central Highlands region are held in the Ballarat Archives Centre.

Strengths and outstanding material

The Collection documents the origins and subsequent development of the Government of Victoria from the Port Phillip District through to the Colony and State of Victoria. It charts the origins and development of its activities with records drawn from or created about every area of the Colony/State. The records document the lives of a significant number of ordinary (and famous) Victorians and their communities through Government activities including wills and probates, immigration, coronial investigation, public education, land selection, criminal prosecution, imprisonment, civil legal actions, births, deaths, marriages and divorce, public health and asylum treatment, wardship, adoption, the levy of council rates, public sector employment and private sector employment regulation among others. As such it constitutes arguably the single greatest primary resource of social history available in Victoria and about Victorians. PROV holds records created in a variety of formats and is an acknowledged world leader in the storage of digital records through its Digital Archive.