City of Sydney – Bourke Ward – Assessment Books

The City of Sydney assessed every property subject to rates within the local government area to determine their rate-able value. Rates were then levied on the properties based on these assessments. This collection contains Assessment Books for the Pyrmont Ward.

Assessment Books usually contain the following information:

Number of assessment: A property often didn’t receive the same number in successive assessments. In most books, the numbers begin with 1 but for a few years, the City used a single sequence of numbers across all books created for a single assessment.

Street number (often written as ‘Number of House’): These weren’t generally in use before the mid-1870s. Where present they are usually recorded for one side of the street at a time. All of the odd numbers will be together, and all of the even numbers will be together.

Situation/Location: Usually street name –sometimes written vertically on the left-hand side of the page.

House name: These were not recorded in any systematic way but are more likely to appear in later books.

Ratepayer’s name: Until 1879, rates were usually paid by whoever was responsible for paying the rent on a property. After 1879, the ratepayer could be the owner or the tenant.

Owner or landlord’s name: When an owner’s or ratepayer’s name changed, the original entry was often crossed out and the new details are written in.

Property description: For example, house, cottage, hotel, shop, factory, land, offices, chambers, dwelling, bank, public house, etc.

Building materials: This included a short description of the materials used in the house and the roof.

Number of storeys and rooms: This can change from one assessment book to the next. Sometimes this may indicate construction work or it may show differences in how assessments were conducted, for example, some assessors counted basements and attics as floors while others did not.

Annual value: This is expressed in pounds. The assessed value of the property is used to set the rates payable by the owner or occupier.

Remarks: This contains a wide variety of remarks, including comments on the dilapidated state of properties, the existence of a kitchen or stables, or when a property is pulled down.