The Conway & Clohessy Tree

What is in This Collection?
This collection of probate registers from the State of Victoria covers the years 1841-1989.

The collection consists of an index to probate registers for Victoria located in the Public Record Office in Melbourne, Australia. Most of the documentation listed in the probate registers are wills handwritten in narrative form.

Probate records are court records created after an individual's death that relate to a court's decisions regarding the distribution of the estate to the heirs or creditors and the care of dependents. This takes place regardless of whether there is a will or not. The Probate Registry is responsible for determining, on application for a grant of representation, what document or documents constitute the last will of the deceased and/or who is entitled to be the personal representative of the deceased. When these determinations have been made, a grant is issued to the estate of the deceased person.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Probate

Name of testator
Death date
Place of residence and address
Occupation
Date of testament
Declaration
Names of children or heirs
Name of spouse
Name of administrator of will
Guardians and relationships
Nature of grant
Witnesses

Collection History
The probates and wills in this collection were kept and recorded by several different government offices over time (Supreme Court of N.S.W. for the District of Port Phillip; Master of Equity, Supreme Court; Master of the Supreme Court; and Registrar of Probates, Supreme Court). The probates and wills were subsequently archived in the Public Record Office Victoria where they have been maintained in two separate series: Probate and Administration Files (Series VPRS 28) and Wills (VPRS 7591). The wills in this collection were originally among the estate papers in a probate application but were subsequently separated. The most recent probate records (2002 and later) are available only from the Victorian Probate Office.