Research Methods

The information on this website has been gathered by the Victorian Trail Project team from a range of local historical sources. These resources include censuses, local collections, and photos.

CENSUSES

The census was introduced in 1801 in order for the government to know a range of different statistics about the population. A census is taken every ten years. The census becomes available to the public 100 years after it has been taken. This means that many of the censuses taken during the Victorian period, those from 1841 to 1891, are now available to study. From the 1841 census onwards the team were able to investigate the families that lived in the World Heritage Site area. The census revealed the families names, their ages and occupations.

LOCAL COLLECTIONS

Many of the images used on the website are from collections at local museums. The museums and other institutions involved have kindly given us permission to reproduce the images here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Some of the images on the site are sourced from local historian Michael Richardson's books. They demonstrate part of his unique collection of archive photographs of the local area and people.