Items medium note

This series consists of bound volumes containing muster rolls and pay lists for Victorian militia or citizen forces, known variously as the Victorian Militia (from 1884); the Commonwealth Military Forces of Victoria (from 1901); the Commonwealth Military Forces, 3rd Military District (from 1911); and the Australian Military Forces, 3rd District Base (from 1921).

The volumes covering the period 1884 to December 1901 also contain muster rolls and pay lists for naval units of the militia, including the Victorian Naval Brigade. Although the format in which the information is presented changes slightly throughout the series, the following information is generally provided: regimental number; rank; name; dates of enlistment, promotion, transfer, discharge etc.; parades, drills or camps attended for which payment claimed; attended course in musketry or gunnery; classed as efficient; rate per diem; total ammount earned; signature of payee and date of payment.

A separate form is filled out for each squadron, battery or company, listing attendance and pay details for every member of the unit. A summary of the total amount paid usually appears as the last page of each unit's entry.

Forms listing pay and attendance for home training usually cover a six month period. Some volumes also contain muster rolls and pay lists for camps of continuous training held over several days running.

The volumes are arranged in chronological order. The first four volumes covering the period 1884 to 1886 are not numbered. The remainder are numbered from 1 to 141.

This series began in 1884 when the Victorian Volunteer Force was disbanded and replaced by a paid part time militia. In 1901 the Commonwealth took over control of naval and military defence from the states and the Victorian Militia became known as the Commonwealth Military Forces of Victoria. Following a reorganisation of the defence forces in 1911, the militia became part of the Commonwealth Military Forces, 3rd Military District. Another name change occurred in 1921 when all Victorian forces became known as Australian Military Forces, 3rd District Base.

Part of this record series has been copied onto microfilm under Australian Archives' reprography program - as of 15 August 2013, Volumes 1 to 80 inclusive are available on microfilm in B5437/4.

In 2017, the microfilm copy of this series was digitized and uploaded to National Archives of Australia RecordSearch database. The digital image can be viewed from the link provided at the ROLL RecordSearch item entry. Note as mentioned above Volume 1 to Volume 80 plus the first four volumes are the only volumes which were microfilmed and therefore only these volumes have a digitised image on RecordSearch.