"Historical Records of Victoria - Foundation Series is an authoritative documentary history of the Port Phillip District and the formative years of colonial Victoria, compiled by the Public Record Office of Victoria under the editorship of noted historian Michael Cannon. Drawing upon thousands of official documents, letters, reports, maps and contemporary records, the series was conceived to preserve and publish the primary source material relating to Victoria's earliest European settlement and administration. The Foundation Series ultimately extended to seven volumes and an index, becoming one of the most important reference works ever produced on nineteenth-century Victorian history.
This set comprises four substantial first edition volumes: Volume I - Beginnings of Permanent Government (1981), examining the establishment of administration and civil authority in the infant settlement; Volume III - The Early Development of Melbourne, 1836-1839 (1984), documenting the emergence of Melbourne from a frontier outpost into a thriving township; Volume IV - Communications, Trade and Transport, 1836-1839 (1985), covering the vital networks of shipping, commerce and overland communication; and Volume V - Surveyors' Problems and Achievements, 1836-1839 (1988), detailing the immense challenges of mapping and opening the new colony. Collectively, these volumes illuminate the political, economic and social foundations upon which modern Victoria was built.
Published by the Victorian Government Printing Office, Melbourne, each volume is a handsome quarto production, extensively illustrated with maps, facsimiles and historical images, and meticulously indexed for scholarly use. Long regarded as indispensable reference works for historians, genealogists, local history researchers and collectors of Australiana, the Historical Records of Victoria series remains one of the finest documentary resources on the colony's earliest years and a significant contribution to the preservation of Victoria's historical record."
