FUNCTION AND CONTENT

The series consists of letters relating to naturalizations in
the State of Victoria.
    
The naturalization certificates which comprise the bulk of this series, show  the following information: 

     .  name of memorialist seeking naturalization
     .  place of residence in Victoria 
     .  occupation
     .  country and often town of origin
     .  age
     .  name of ship and date of arrival 

The certificate is signed and dated on behalf of the Governor. 

Below these particulars on each certificate is a note showing date of entry in the Register of Certificate of Patents (CRS A3977), maintained by the Colonial/Chief Secretary.

On the reverse side of each certificate is a copy of the applicant's oath of allegiance, which they were required to take within 60 days of issue of the certificate.

Below this oath is a note of the date of enrolment in the 'Register' of the Supreme Court (CRS A3977). Entries are arranged chronologically by date of enrolment.  

In 1863 the function of enrolling certificates of naturalization passed from the Supreme Court to the Chief Secretary of the State of Victoria.  

The steps in the administrative process relating to naturalization
appear to have consisted of the following:
                             
     1. The person wishing to be naturalized petitions the
        State Governor(in a 'memorial') that they be granted
        naturalization under the Aliens Act.  The Governor then
        approves or rejects the petition.  This process is documented
        on files in this series.
     
     2. Letters Patent are issued by 'enrolling' the naturalization
        in a register of letters patent.  

        The registers of letters patent for the following
        periods are: 
            
           1847-1852, CRS A725 (formerly CP508/7)
           1852-1863, CRS A726 (formerly CP508/6)
           1863-1903, CRS A727 (formerly CP508/6) 

     3. The Certificate of Naturalization is entered in a Register
        of Naturalizations.  

        The registers of Naturalization for the series (formerly
        CP508/8) for the periods are:

            1851-1861, CRS A3977 
            1861-1903, CRS 728

        The sequence in which these steps occured is not entirely
        clear - the evidence suggests that it may have varied
        over the years.  

Related Legislation (for letters relating to naturalisation)

NSW Act 11 Vic 39 of 1847:(An act to amend the law relating to    aliens)

       requiring that certificates of naturalization be enrolled in
       the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of the Colony
       of NSW.  Note that 'Victoria' was still a part of the
       Colony of NSW  at this time.  The date range of certificates
       issued under this Act is 1851 to 10 April 1863
                            
Vic Act 26 Vic No 166 of 1863 (An act to amend the law relating to  aliens)                                                                                                                                           the date range of certificates issued under this Act
      is 28 April 1863 to 31 May 1865

Act 256 and 1063: (Aliens Statute 1865, Aliens Act 1890) 

       the date range of certificates issued under this Act
       23 June 1865 to 31 December 1903.  Note that about 1852 the
       administration of the Aliens Act in Victoria changed with,
       inter alia, establishment of the Supreme Court of the Colony
       of Victoria.

USING THE SERIES

A recent (1993) examination of the records has revealed that the  
series embraces three distinct control systems for the naturalisation certificates, reflecting the changing acts under which naturalization was granted. The certificates appear chronologically as follows:
     
     Set 1.  Act 11 Vic 39 from 1851 to 10 April 1863

             Certificates issued during this period are controlled
             by the registered number in the Register of Patents
             (CRS A3977 to 28 June 1861, and thereafter A728 Vol.1
             pp1-32) which is an annual single number system.
             The range of numbers in the register is 1851/1 to
             1863/58.

     Set 2.  Act 166 from 28 April 1863 to 31 May 1865 
             
             Certificates issued during this period are controlled
             by the page number in the volume (in the sequence of
             volumes maintained by the Registrar of Patents) in which
             the issue of letters patent effecting the naturalization
             was 'enrolled' as required by the Act.  All the items
             in this set are in the one volume which became
             identified a 'Book 14'(CRS A727, volume 14, ranging from
             page 1 to 335). The certificates for this period are
             registered in CRS A728 Vol.1 pp 33- 57. 

     Set 3.  Act 256 and 1063 from 26 June 1865 to 31 December 1903
          
             Certificates issued during this period are controlled by
             a simple numeric sequence beginning with 
             No.1 on 2 June 1865 (when Act No.256 came into effect)
             and continuing uninterrupted to 31 December 1903, the
             last issued being numbered 9927. (The function of
             naturalization was transferred to the Federal Government
             on 1 January 1904.)

System of Arrangement and Control
                                             
Australian Archives has placed the letters in folders with the file
number written in the top right hand corner. There have been 3 types
of control numbers used in the series:
                                                                            .   a year and number (eg 1852/45)
                              
      .   a year and number with a letter prefix (eg A1853/1819)
      
      .   year and number with a letter infix (eg 1857/Z48)
          Although not strictly the rule, this system appears to
          have two consecutive letters of the alphabet infixed for
          each year of the date range 1857-1903. eg for the year
          1857, the infixed letters used are Y,Z,A and B. In 1858
          G and H are used and in 1859, J and K are used.  The
          letter infixes recur in later years, eg Y and Z are used
          again in 1883.  It remains unclear for what purpose the
          letter infixes were used.  A few files have the suffix 'A'
          which seems to only distinguish between two files with the
          same number, eg 1884/A1473 and 1884/A1473A.

A miscellaneous file, 1903/Z9999, was created by Australian Archives in May 1997 to house parts of documents belonging to this series that were unable to be identified as part of any recognisable file of this series.

Finding Aids

All items in this series in the custody of Australian Archives as at March 1997 have been entered onto the item level database, ANGAM II.  There are several items missing, originally inventoried as part of this series in the custody of Australian Archives circa 1970, but not found in the re-arrangement and description of this series in 1997.  A list of the missing items appears in the inventory for this series in the reading room.  Missing items are also noted as such on their ANGAM II database entries.

Related series unregistered

Letterbooks, 1836-c1858/60  
Registry Books, 1836-1899
Indexes to correspondence received, 1839-1843, 1851-1899
Indexes to letters sent 1873-1880, 1883-1900
[These records listed above are held by the State Library of Victoria, Archives Division]