Items medium note

This series consists of four beige cloth covered volumes with the title embossed in black on the spines.

Volume [1] and [2] have a crown on the spine and the title "Victorian Navy - Certificates of Services" underneath it.

Volume [3] has the cover missing.

Volume [4] has the title "Commonwealth Naval Forces - Certificates of Service" on the spine.

Throughout the four volumes there are many loose and missing papers.

Volume [2] and [4] contain the actual certificate (not issued) and volume [1] and [3] contain office copies.Volume [1] has a two page format which occurs on the one page and its reverse. On the front of the page appears No. [x] and the heading, "Certificate of Service of [name], In the Victorian Navy".

Across the page the columns are titled: Date of First Entry, Date of Birth, Age on Entry, Trade brought up to. Under the next heading Engagements appears columns for Date of Swearing in, Period Sworn in for and Remarks. The next heading is Wounds and Injuries received in the service entitling to Compensation; the columns beneath this are titled Date, Details of Wound or Hurt and Particulars as to Compensation, Signature of Medical Officer and Signature of Commandment.

In the top right corner there is a section ruled by a diagonal line beyond which is written 'The corner of this certificate is to be cut off if the man is dismissed from the Victorian Navy'.On the reverse side of the page the heading is Name [] underneath which appears columns titled: 1 Rating, 2 Date, 3 Ability in Rating, 4 Character and Signature of Commandant. In many cases there are comments written accross these columns which include dismissal, desertion, date of death, retrenchment and retirement. Underneath a note as to when the columns are to be filled in, the following heading Gunnery, Torpedo, and Other Examinations.

The first entriesare dated September 1884 and the last entries are dated 1905. Volume [2] is a replica of volume [1] except the majority of the pages are missing and the remaining pages are waxed. Volume [3] is a continuation of volume [1] except that it has a name index in an alpha tabbed section in the front of it. The entries start in March 1905 and the last entry appears in May 1911. The number of any previous Certificate of Service is annotated under the Certificate Number.

A few of the later entries have written across the page: Transferred for pay purposes to books of Queensland. Volume [4] is a continuation of volume [2]. There are many pages missing and many blank pages at the back of the volume. Like volume [2] the pages are waxed.These records were commenced under the Victorian Naval Forces which were taken over by the Commonwealth Government on the Federation of the Australian colonies in 1901.

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 by clicking the RecordSearch 'Digital item" icon