NRS-1286 Returns of the colony, 1822–1870

'Blue Books' 1822–1857

* In producing the Blue Books in the microfiche format, when more than one Blue Book for a particular year is held in the State Archives Collection, the Blue Books were compared. The microfiche edition in these cases is often a composite from the extant volumes in order to produce as complete a set of returns as possible for each year.

Public Service Lists, 1858-1870

This is a continuation of the relevant part of the previous list. From 1858 to 1861 the statistical Returns of the Colony (Blue Books), contained a section listing members of the Executive Council, Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly; officers of the Civil Establishments, by department; an Ecclesiastical Return arranged by church; a return of pensions paid; and a list of foreign consuls. This section has been extracted from the Returns of the Colony and filmed in this series under the title Public Service Lists. There is an index to the officers of the Civil Establishments only at the beginning of each year. From 1862 to 1870 the Public Service Lists were published separately from the statistical Returns of the Colony, with an alphabetical index to contents and an index to officers of the Civil Establishments included in the front of each annual volume. For these years lists for the following are generally included:

• Succession of Governors
• Ecclesiastical Establishments
• Parliaments (from 1863)
• Education
• Ministries
• Pensions
• Executive Council
• Foreign Consuls
• Legislative Council
• Returning Officers
• Legislative Assembly
• Guardians of Minors (from 1864)
• Civil Establishments

For public servants, the office, the officer's name, date of appointment, by whom appointed, annual salary, and date of first appointment under the Colonial Government are recorded.

Public Service Lists, 1871-1960 are available only in the reading room on Reels 3609-3620.

A note about Civil Officers

The returns of Civil Officers, which are located in each of the Returns of the Colony (see the list above), have also been separately microfilmed and are available in the Reading Room on the following reels: