Author: Sydney.
Title: Rates assessment ledger for the ward of Bourke in Sydney 1863.
Description: n.p. 1863 Folio, quarter reversed calf and cloth (front board detached); 57 leaves of printed forms filled in manuscript. Some old damp staining round the bottom but nothing too serious. ¶ Some 1000 properties in the centre of Sydney assessed with quite a bit of useful detail. Properties are arranged by street and each entry includes the sreet number, person rated, owner or landlord, description of the building - house, warehouse, shop; brick, stone wood or iron; slated, shingled or otherwise; number of floors; number of rooms; value; and remarks - which contain a lot of useful remarks about the nature, history, attached structures and condition of the buildings. For instance, Francis O'Brien's row of seven houses in George Street, 29 to 35, were all in very bad condition, with their lower floors below the level of the yard, and mostly empty. The rates assessment ledger for 1863 in the Sydney Council archives is quite different in organisation and seems to have fewer remarks.

Keywords: history town planning government economics c19th Australia Sydney