Working two days a week for six months, Merrilee Edwards and Eileen Lowther completed survey sheets for 75 volumes of Shire of McIvor rate, minute and letter books.

The have also partly indexed Borough of Heathcote rate books.

The Shire of McIvor, based at Heathcote, was one of six municipalities that were amalgamated in 1994 to form the City of Greater Bendigo.

The shire records date back to the 1860s and cover the diverse history of Heathcote, from its role in the gold rush to its development as a farming district.

The records, which have never been used by non-council staff before, are now permanently preserved and held at the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre in the Goldfields Library.

They are community records that can be accessed by the public for genealogy and research purposes.