Work and employment

Introduction

We generally hold records relating to employment when a person:

• was employed by the government
• needed to obtain government certification for their employment
• worked for an organisation that has deposited their private records with the Tasmanian Archives.

If someone ran their own business, there may be company registration records.

What is online?

• 1891-1948 Post Office Directories – includes trade directories at the end of each volume
• 1915-1925 Register of people seeking employment (SWD18)

Health Practitioners

Registration of doctors and pharmacists

• 1841-1901 Minutes of meetings of the Court of Medical Examiners (CB12/1)
• 1844-1903 Cash book records of the Court of Medical Examiners (CB12/2)

Nursing records

• 1891-1912 Nurses register of training and employment, Launceston General Hospital (AB612)

Inspection of machinery records

Copies of certificates of service as engineer in charge of mining

• 1891-1897 (LID25)
• 1892-1902 (LID26)

Copies of certificates of service as an operator of land engines

• 1890-1902 (LID22)
• 1903-1939 First Class (AE79)
• 1903-1919 Second Class (AA80)
• 1893-1944 (AE549)

See the guide to railway employee records for more relevant records.

The Mercury newspaper

• 1862-1863 Mercury staff wages book (NS302/1/2)

Public service

• 1850-1858 Register of applicants for situations in the public service (CSO80)
• 1907-1913 Register of particulars of service of officers of the public service (PSC8)
• 1907-1945 Forms recording details of service and other information on permanent officers of the public service (PSC7)

Police

• 1832-1844 Register of appointments, transfers, resignation and dismissal of police (first 2 volumes) (POL324)

Guides covering employment records

• School and Department of Education records
• Railway employment records
• Lighthouses
• Company and business registration
• Publicans’ records
• Shipping and ships crews

What else is there?

Tasmanian Government Gazette on microfilm. Launceston Library has some extracts from the Gazette.

Searching for Government Employee records

To find records relating to employment within a specific government agency, search the archives by agency. Put in a word from the agency’s name in the title field. Physical records are not generally searchable by a person’s name online, but there are some paper indexes to some record series’

• The “Blue Books” Draft and duplicate copies of annual official, financial and statistical reports (CSO50) The published Tasmanian statistics list civil servants from 1822.
• 1852-1956 Audit Department Salary registers (AUD17)
• Chief Secretary’s Department (TA153) In 1860 the government passed the Superannuation Act. This entitled people who had been in permanent positions in the civil service of the colonial government for more than ten years to be paid a pension. Individuals with less than ten years service who were severely injured on duty were also entitled to a payment. The applications and decisions are in the correspondence files of the Chief Secretary’s Department – see Pensions in that Agency’s index
• 1905-1918 Public Service Board records (TA79)
• 1918-1973 Public Service Commissioners Office (TA375)

Legal practitioners

• 1824-1924 Alphabetical register of legal practitioners 1824-1924 (SC208)
• 1824-1953 Documents relating to the admission of legal practitioners (SC207)

Health practitioners

• 1841-1901; 1908-1923 Minutes of Meetings of the Medical Council (CB12/1)
• 1927-1987 Nursing Registration Board records (TA198)
• 1913-1993 Board of Optical Registration (TA341)
• 1982-1998 Chiropractors Registration Board (TA343)
• 1920-2003 Register of Dental Practitioners (AE568)
• 1958-1996 Dental Mechanics Registration Board (TA346)
• 1951-2010 Physiotherapists Registration Board (TA363)
• 1977-2010 Psychologists Registration Board (TA779)
• 1974-2010 Podiatrists Registration Board (TA364)

Mining

• The records of the Mines Department- registers of applications for leases such as gold mining and a Register of mine managers 1900 – 1955 (MIN71)

Police

• R1832-1844; 1855-1955 Register of the appointment, transfer, resignation and dismissal of members of the Police establishment (POL324). Between 1858 and 1865 the Police Force was de-centralised as Municipalities took responsibility for appointing and maintaining the force in their area. The register does not include policeman employed by the Municipalities. This de-centralised system existed until 1898.

Private companies

• Some companies deposited their records with the Archives Office. To find records relating to employment within a private company, Search Archives by agency – put in a word from the company’s name in the title field. Two large companies we do hold employee records include the Mt Lyell Mining Company and the Van Diemen’s Land Company.

Published resources

• Work in Tasmania: a guide to resource collections by Kim Pearce
• Occupational Records in Australia by Cora Nunn
• Indexes to Walch’s Tasmanian almanacs – covers justice of the peace, medical professionals, roads and surveyors, ecclesiastical professions, magistrates & police, coroners, country women’s association, postmasters and mistresses.

Notes

The degree to which we hold employment records about a person depends on the type of employment they had. For many types of employment there are no individual records relating to that person.

Related

• Directories and Almanacs can hint at a person’s occupation
• Wills often state a person’s occupation, they can be searched and viewed using the Tasmanian Names Index.