Find your ancestors in Western Australia Blue Book 1901

Blue Books are summaries of governmental activities and contain many statistical records determined by the activities of the government and the economy and as such can prove useful references for determining an historical perspective at a given point in time. Given the lack of census records in Australia, these publications can often provide similar records for government employees.

You can expect to find people named within their categories or government departments including as follows:

Legislative Council
Government employees in alphabetical order
Governor’s staff
Colonial Secretary’s staff
Executive Council staff
Staff listed by government department
Return of officers giving security for due discharge of duties
Consuls
School head teachers, members of Boards of Education and attendance officers
Just some of the departments that people listed here come from are: postal, railways, hospital, education, works, mines, printing, fisheries, gaols, legislative assembly, harbour, agriculture, lands, and charities. There is a section on pension, this provides the name of the person, amount of their pension, date from which the pension has been paid, employment position and where, the amount they earnt while employed, and their cause for retirement.

If you had ancestors in the Public Service in Western Australia in 1901 (or earlier), there is a good likelihood of them being listed in this volume.