VPRS 567 Mining Company Registration Files

Full description

This series comprises files relating to the registration of mining companies under the provisions of the Mining Companies Act 1871. This and subsequent legislation required that companies wishing to incorporate register with the Registrar of Companies. These files consist of the documents required to be lodged with the Office in order to satisfy ongoing registration.

The files in custody relate to all mining companies which had been registered prior to 1958 and had become deregistered (or defunct) by 1978. Mining companies ceased to be separately registered in 1958. Any files which were still in existence at this time ie. 1958, continued to operate under their mining company number, any new registrations after this date were included in the general trading company registration sequence. (see VPRS 932 Trading Company Registration Files). In 1978 any mining company still operating with a pre-1958 mining company registration number was re-numbered and incorporated into the general trading company registration sequence.

This series was previously titled "Defunct Mining Company Files". The title has been changed to reflect the original function of the records, though it is correct to assume that all the files contained within the series relate to defunct registrations.

Filing Process

The mining company registration numbers were allocated sequentially from the Register of Mining Companies, VPRS 8273 when a company applied to be registered. Prior to such registration occurring the applicants were required to lodge certain documents as a form of application (see below for details) with the Office. Within seven days of such lodgement copies of the documents were to be published in a local newspaper and in the Government Gazette. Extracts from these publications were then to be lodged with the Office "to be there retained and filed with the said memorandum" thus forming the basis for the Mining Company Registration Files.

The register is the prime record signed by the Registrar-General which "effects" registration of the company as a body corporate (ie. the process of incorporation). A certificate of registration was supplied to the company after this process.

Documents received were marked with the mining company number and filed accordingly. Each document within each file was also sequentially numbered upon receipt.

Contents of Files

Usually files will contain :

- initial application memorandum, known as Memorandum and Articles of Association, containing details such as
- the name of the company,
- the place of operation,
- the address of the registered office of the company,
- the nominal capital of the company,
- the number of shares subscribed for,
- the name of the manager,
- the names, addresses and occupations of the shareholders.

- a copy of the rules and regulations of the company and any alterations to these
- copies of gazette and newspaper notices
- notices of change in managers or address of office
- notices of increase/decrease in capital
- half yearly statements
- a copy of the winding up order

Previous Series

Prior to 1871 under the provisions of the An Act to Limit the Liability of Mining Companies 1864 mining companies were to register for incorporation at the Court of Mines nearest to their place of operation and to publish documentation in the Government Gazette. Researchers should check for relevant series under individual courts [2.0.0] and Mining Districts/Divisions [9.0.0] in the List of Holdings, and also in the Summary Guide 1990. The provisions of the 1871 Act did not apply to companies registered under the previous legislation. The pre-1871 registrations of these companies remained valid until they transferred or ceased to exist.

Subsequent Series

It seems clear that separate mining company registration ceased with the introduction of the Companies Act 1958 and the creation of the Companies Registration Office [VA 2725] in 1959. The 1871 Act and subsequent legislation had specified separate categories and registration of mining companies. This legislation was repealed by the 1958 Act. After this time mining companies appear to have been registered as trading companies. See VPRS 932 Trading Company Registration Files for more information about this system and methods for accessing files for companies registered post 1958.

P Consignment

It would appear that this consignment contains most of the files created between 1871 and 1958, except for the few remaining current files transferred to the general trading company sequence in 1978. Files which were not transferred to the Public Record Office are noted on the item list as "missing" or "out". A number of Prospecting Syndicate Files were originally located in unit 854 of this consignment but these were removed at some time and can now be located in VPRS 10316 Prospecting Syndicate Registration Files.