Family history: looking for information?

The Melbourne Tram Museum receives a large number of queries from genealogists and family historians requesting details on individuals who worked for one or another of the tramway organisations operating in Melbourne.

Unfortunately we are unable to assist with the vast majority of these queries as we do not hold any records regarding individual tramway employees. Most of the still extant records from the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board and its predecessors are held at the Victorian Archives Centre of the Public Record Office Victoria located in North Melbourne.

The Victorian Archives Centre of the Public Record Office Victoria is also the best source for information regarding former tramway employees of the Victorian Railways.

The other primary source of information on individual tramway employees is through union records, which may be accessed through the University of Melbourne Archives located in Parkville. The records of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and its predecessors now form part of the Australian Trade Union Archives held by this institution. However, access to these records may be restricted to scholars, or require prior consent from the RTBU.

A valuable source of material on Melbourne tramway history is the Peter W. Duckett Collection that is held by the Melbourne Tram Museum library, although this does not include information on individual employees. The State Library of Victoria also holds a significant amount of similar material on Melbourne tramways, while the Trove newspaper archive operated by the National Library of Australia is a key resource for family historians with a connection to the tramways.