Historical information

From 1858, mining companies had to complete a registration form which was kept in a register maintained by the Courts of Mines in each Mining District. The Ballaarat Mining District had subdivisions Ballaarat, Blackwood, Buninyong, Creswick, Smythes Creek (later Smythesdale), and Steiglitz. Courts of Mines sat in each of these localities. It is likely that this index is from a register maintained at the Smythesdale Court of Mines.
After 1871, mining companies had to register with the Victorian Office of the Registrar General.

Physical description

Photocopy of an original index to an official register of mining companies. The index provides a useful list of mining companies which were operating in the Linton, Springdallah and Happy Valley districts in 1861-1862. The exact source of the index is not known, but it probably formed part of a register of mining companies maintained within the Ballaarat Mining District, most likely by the Smythesdale Court of Mines. The index is roughly alphabetical, with one page for each letter of the alphabet, but entries on each page are not in strict alphabetic order. Each entry records the name of the mining company, partnership or "party" (in "Name of Claim" column), the place of operation of the mine "Locality" column), a registration number allocated by the Court ("No. of Claim" column), and the page number in the register where information provided in the mine registration process can be found.

Note that there are no pages 'P" and "Q".