AGY-4345 | Moama Crown Land Agent's Office

Full description

The first Crown Land Agent at Moama was George Maunsell who was appointed on 20 November 1860. (1) Both the Crown Lands Alienation Act, 1861 (25 Vic. No. 1, 1861) and the Crown Lands Occupation Act, 1861 (25 Vic. No. 2, 1861) which set out the duties of land agents received assent on 18 October, 1861. The former dealt with the sale of land. The duties of a land agent under this Act included

(a) accepting written applications for conditional purchases of land between 40 and 120 acres (2)
(b) receiving deposits of 25% of the purchase price (3)
(c) determining by lot the successful purchaser (if two or more applications are made for the same land) (4)
(d) recording particulars of applications for provisional purchases into a book (5)
(e) forwarding particulars of applications to 'the proper officer of government' each week. (6)
(f) arranging refunds if a purchaser withdrew from a conditional purchase of unsurveyed land within one year of application (7)
(g) Certifying occupancy and improvements to conditionally purchased land final purchase of the land (8)
(h) Making land available to other purchasers if the deposit has not been paid (9)
(I) recording in a book all sales made by him under the Act. (10)

Under the Crown Lands Alienation Act, 1861 the Land Agent
(a) received payments of renewals of leases (11)
(b) Converted leases under the Crown Land Regulations, 1848 to those under the Crown Lands Alienation Act, 1861 (12)
(c) arranged leases for land which was not bid for at auction (13)

Regulations under the Acts were published in pamphlet form and were available from 15 November 1861. (14)

The Crown Land Agent's Office at Moama ceased in 1882. The Land District of Moama was incorporated within the Land District of Deniliquin from 1 April 1882. (15)

Endnotes
(1) Public Service List 1862 p.54.
(2) Crown Lands Alienation Act, 1861 (25 Victoria Act No. 1) s. 13
(3) Ibid.
(4) Ibid
(5) Ibid. s. 15
(6) Loc. Cit.
(7) Ibid. s. 16
(8) Ibid. s. 18
(9) Ibid. s. 26
(10) Ibid. s. 27
(11) Crown Lands Occupation Act, 1861 s. 12 (3)
(12) Ibid. s. 12 (4)
(13) Ibid. s. 12(12)
(14) NSW Government Gazette, 15 November, 1861 p. 2446 
(15) Blue Book, 1882, p.95 note 5; NSW Government Gazette No.133, 31 March 1882, p.1796.