Special Case Files

Special Case Files are a type of record used in the department between about 1862 and 1977. They are similar to subject files or topic files. Staff created them when they needed to gather together documents on an important issue in one place.

A Special Case File might have been created because:

• an existing file was very large
• the topic was sensitive or important
• senior staff, such as ministers or directors, needed to access it.

Early files from the 1860s look like standard files, and it’s unclear why the were treated as ‘special’. Department staff decided which files became Special Case Files, but we don’t know the exact process.

In most cases, these files were created so staff could quickly find all the information on a particular topic. Records staff would gather things like letters, memos, reports, documents and other items considered relevant from different storage systems, then combine them in one Special Case File.

The creation of Special Case Files stopped in 1977. This may have been due to changes in the department’s records area, including a move towards electronic systems and new archival principles like “original order”. The principle of “original order” means records stay in the order created and used by their original owners.

For more information, visit: Public Record Office Victoria: Special Case Files series

Information in Special Case Files

Special Case Files cover many topics. Some examples include information about:

• a teacher at Mount Egerton Common School who was wrongly linked to a bank robbery in Mount Egerton by the bushranger ‘Captain Moonlight’ (Special Case File No. 218)
• the Gould League, originally called the Gould League for Bird Lovers, which had a strong presence in schools (Special Case File No. 1309)
• the dismissal of a head teacher of the Simmons Reef School No. 568 who had attempted an abortion (Special Case File No. 494)
• immunisation in schools, including one on diptheria immunisation (Special Case File No. 1211)
• the Ballarat and Clunes Alluvial Gold Mining Company seeking permission to mine under the school reserve of Clunes school No. 136 (Special Case File No. 87)
• students having pen pals (Special Case File No. 1187).
• sex education (Special Case File No. 1106)
• Victoria teachers who were sent to Nauru in 1923 when it was jointly administered by the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and education in English became compulsory (Special Case File No. 1244)
• issues around religious instruction in schools (Special Case File No. 1296).

These examples show the wide range of topics. Anyone interested in education history may find these files useful.

How to access Special Case Files

You can browse the records listings on the Public Record Office Victoria website for items of interest. Each listing includes:

• the file number of the special case
• the file title
• any relevant school numbers linked to the topic.

For example:

1012. - Complaints of HT (Head Teacher) Dutson State School) No. 2368 being engaged in lime burning, fruit and vegetable growing, and farming. - Thomas Robinson WG Stevenson – 1894-1903

From this listing you can tell:

• 1012 is the number of the Special Case File.
• the subject is complaints made about a head teacher
• the names of two individuals, likely the head teacher and the person making the complaints
• the date range the file covers.

The Public Record Office Victoria holds two groups of Special Case Files:

• VPRS 892/P0 Units 1 to 1151, which covers 1862 to 1946
• VPRS 892/P1 Units 1 to 421, which covers 1946 to 1977

It’s best to browse these listings to find items that match your research topic.

There are two more indexes of Special Case Files that might help your research, however they were created for internal department staff and can be difficult to use. These records are digitised and available on the Public Record Office Victoria website.:

• VPRS 5675/P0 Units 1 to 2. Index to Special Case Files — created to aid retrieval by Department officers.
• VPRS 5676/P0 Units 1 to 2. Register of Special Case Files — includes file numbers from the original files before they became “special”.

For more information, visit: How to get records from PROV.