Assessment & Rate Books
Assessment Books
The Newtown Assessment Books (CRS602) record details of ownership, occupation, construction and value for buildings in Newtown between 1863 and 1892. They provide valuable information for family and property history which is not available from any other source. The surviving original assessment books have been transcribed by a volunteer team and the years provided below are a complete set of what is held at the City of Sydney Archives. Newtown Rate Books (CRS604) exist in both digitised and hardcopy format at the City of Sydney Archives for the years 1866 to 1949. These records have not been transcribed but may be a future project for the Newtown website. Please note – Prior to using the assessment book transcriptions, you may need to consult the ward maps to work out which books you need to look at. To search the ward boundary maps see Local Area: Maps or The Historical Atlas of Sydney.
Camden Ward
Enmore Ward
1863 1864 1865 1878 1879, 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1891 1892
Kingston Ward
1863, 1864, 1865 1878 1879, 1880, 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1891 1892
O’Connell Ward
1863, 1864, 1865 1878 1879, 1880, 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1891 1892
Rate Books – 1866-1949
CRS604 Newtown Rate Books was created to provide a record of the issuance of rating notices (local property taxation) and the receipt of the rates payments. Information recorded includes property address and brief description, names of owner, occupier, and person responsible for paying the rate, and financial details relating to the assessment, levying, and collection of the rate. Not all this information is necessarily recorded every year or for every entry.
The volumes are arranged chronologically by rating year, which was a twelve-month period ending in early February (until 1908) and corresponded to the calendar year thereafter. Volumes created prior to 1908 are dated in the inventory according to the calendar year to which they mostly apply: so ‘1905’ means ‘year ending February 1906’.
Within each volume records are arranged by Ward, and within each Ward are by assessment number, street by street. The volumes are not indexed.
Access points are by assessment number (if known), or by searching for the address of the property or name of owner, occupier, or rated person.
The Rates Records have been digitised and are available to view by appointment in the Archives Reading Room.
Selected extracts are available to download below