NRS-20806 | Register of Returned Soldiers Group Purchases [Armidale Lands Office]

Full description

This register contains a summary record of all returned soldiers group purchases in the Land District of Armidale, kept by the Armidale Lands Office.

This tenure was introduced in 1917 by the Returned Soldiers Settlement (Amendment) Act 1917 (Act No.24, 1917) for settlement groups of returned soldiers, under the Returned Soldiers Settlement Act, 1916 (Act No.21, 1916). It was a tenure by which a Crown grant was obtained after all conditions, including payment of purchase money, have been fulfilled. The settler was required to reside on the holding for the first five years, and to fence the external boundaries in the first three years. In 1943 legislation was passed enabling soldier’s group purchases to be converted in to group purchase leases (leases in perpetuity).

The register records information such as the number of the application, the name and address of the applicant, date of application and time of receipt, description of the land, and the purpose for which the land is required. Also a deposit and survey fee, the annual rent and the gazetted number of the lease.

This register was originally printed as a Crown Lease Register but is over-written as a "Group Purchase Register".