Geelong and District

The following information is incomplete but helpful in its current state.  Rate books for municipalities in our region are generally held by the current municipality, Public Record Office Victoria or the Geelong Heritage Centre.  Many have now been digitised and may be viewed at the Local Historical / Family History Society.  For those shown as part indexed below, follow the link below or look at the Potpourri indexes information for our region.

How to use Rate (& Valuation) records : Rate records can be arranged in various ways.  It is common for rate records to be created according to the year in which the rate was levied and then by the ward or riding of the municipal district.  Within that arrangement entries are usually made by street and property number. The arrangement of the streets may be alphabetical but more often than not they are arranged according to an established route taken by the assessor.  In the latter case it is common for the entries for each property to be allocated a consecutive rate (or assessment) number which reflects the particular route.  The rate numbers usually change each year due to the addition or removal of rateable properties along the route.  An index to street names is sometimes created to assist identification of entries under this arrangement.  Other councils recorded rate entries in surname order.

Function / Content : Every year each local council is required to make and levy rates in respect of all rateable properties within its municipal district.  The Municipal Institutions Act 1854 (No.26) empowered local councils to make by-laws for the regulation of their own proceedings including the collection of rates.  The amount of rate is therefore determined by the council although a statutory limit applies. Rates are the main source of revenue for the council.

The rate record is a record of the levying and payment of rates on rateable properties.  Apart from the general rate which is levied equally on all properties, a council may levy an extra rate or a special rate.  An extra rate may be levied, over and above the general rate, on a subdivision of a municipality to cover expenses occurred in that subdivision.  A special rate may be levied when a council undertakes works for the special benefit of a particular portion of the municipality.  Separate rate records are maintained for general, extra and special rates and these are therefore registered as separate series.

For each rateable property a record is created which identifies the property and person rated and includes details of the annual value of the property, the amounts due, amounts paid, arrears and when rates were abandoned.  A complete rate record may comprise two parts: a Register of Rateable Properties and a Rates Register.  The Register of Rateable Properties identifies the properties and persons rated and the Rates Register comprises the accounting details.  Where these two parts exist they are registered separately.

The format of rate records has changed over the years.  Initially the levying and payment of rates were recorded in volumes (known as Rate Books) until the introduction of cards (known as Rate Cards) from the 1930s.  In the 1980's and 1990's automated systems have mostly been used.  Printouts of the automated system are usually produced as the rate record.  Series of rate records in different formats are registered separately.

IMPORTANT NOTE : Early Rate Books also recorded the Occupier AND the owner, and their occupations.