I wrote earlier this month about the Victorian Government Gazettes. The Gazette published a list of railway employees every three years between 1884 and 1929.

I have been able to follow the career of my husband’s great grandfather, Henry Dawson (1864 – 1929).

On 7 June 1889 commenced employment as a railway employee.

On 30 January 1893 he was with the traffic branch as a lampman.

On 4 February 1896 he was with the traffic branch as a carriage cleaner.

On 2 February 1899 he was with the traffic branch as a porter.

On 1 January  1902 again employed as a carriage cleaner. His  pay was 7 shillings weekly.

As he was not mentioned in the gazette listing of 1905 it appears that Henry had left the railways before January 1905  (1905 Gazette 141 Page 4744  http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1905&class=general&page_num=4719&state=V&classNum=G142)

The Commonwealth of Australia Electoral Roll of 1909 has him still employed as a railway employee. He probably hadn’t updated his voting registration. (1909 Australian Electoral Roll, Bentleigh polling place, Division of Balaclava, State of Victoria)

On 1 January 1912 Henry Dawson recommenced work with the railways

On 4 August 1914, 27 February 1918 and 7 April 1921 he was with the transportation branch as a lampman. He was still in that job on 24 November 1925; his weekly pay was 14 shillings 8 pence.

…

retrieved from http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1926&class=general&page_num=1233&state=V&classNum=G54

There is more information about railway employment  at http://prov.vic.gov.au/provguide-40

Where to find the Triennial List of Railway Employees in the Government Gazette

(1884 – 1929)

 Year Vol Page Year Vol Page
1884 1 1459 1908 2 2333
1887 2 2055 1911 2 4457
1890 1 1237 1914 2 3267
1893 1   387 1918 1   887
1896 1   621 1921 1 1189
1899 1   433 1924 1 1167
1902 3 4099 1926 1 1233
1905 3 4719 1929 2 1931

The list was discontinued after 1929.