Victoria, Australia PRO records

[Anthoula]

I am trying to trace 2 ancestors who emigrated to Australia in the mid 1800s. I have found various birth and marriage records on the Victoria PRO site relating to their children. Although it only costs about $1 Aus for each record my bank charges an additional £1.50 for each transaction which soon adds up. Copy certificates work out pretty expensive too.
Hopefully (possibly) I have now found the passenger records for the 2 ancestors, but I only have the book & fiche references and page numbers. When I enquired on the net regarding finding the services of genealogists in Victoria who could possibly undertake the look-up for me I received a reply quoting a charge of $45 per hour. Call me a meanie if you like, but I thought that a bit steep. Or am I being naive? Just wondering now if anyone here can direct me to someone who may be able to undertake the look-up for less.
Many thanks.........Anthea

[ChristineR]

There are people who go to the PROV office who may be able to do the look up for you. I only go once a year if I am lucky - always a thing I have to put off.

By the way, it is not the PROV that you found the BDM records - that is run by the Department of Justice.

I have the BDM cds at home, as do other BG people, and are able to do lookups very effectively - one really needs to use the wildcards to find the various spellings. Unless they have changed it on line, John does not come up for Jno and vise versa. The .99c is for each page of results, not each individual record, so it is a matter of extending your search until you fill a page to get the most value for money! free to search - 99c to look. The Victorian certificates are the cheapest in Australia and have a vast amount of information after July 1853.

If you post the names of the two ancestors, we may be able to help. There are some shipping lists on line as well. Please do not hesitate to ask for any specific BDMs too.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

ChristineR :)

[Anthoula]

Thanks for the welcome and advice, Christine. The 2 people I am hoping to have identified are Eliza Cartledge who is shown as aged 25, arriving on the Bombay in 1852 ( reference Book 7 Page 99), and Thomas Bennett, age 24 who arrived in 1852 on the Covenanter ( reference Fiche 023 Page 003). If anyone can do a look-up for me I will be extremely grateful.

[Lenore]

When I enquired on the net regarding finding the services of genealogists in Victoria who could possibly undertake the look-up for me I received a reply quoting a charge of $45 per hour. Call me a meanie if you like, but I thought that a bit steep. Or am I being naive?
Many thanks.........Anthea

Hi Anthea,

Try asking for a quote from someone else. I doubt they all charge that fee - if you haven't seen it, I'm pretty sure PROV has a page with the contact details of PROV researchers. Mind you, I feel sure I was charged something very similar by an English researcher at the London Record Office last year.
http://www.access.prov.vic.gov.au/public/PROVguides/PROVguide015/PROVguide015.jsp

Good luck,

Lenore