NRS-21565 | Primary Application Search Sketches

Full description

Search Sketches (S.S.) were once regularly prepared as part of the investigation and processing of a Primary Application i.e. an application by a registered land owner to convert their land from Old System land title to the Torrens system of title.

Search Sketches are plans drawn by Primary Application examiners to provide a graphical representation of the land described in the documents that form the chain of title that supports an applicant's claim to title as disclosed in their Primary Application. Often these documents in the chain only provide a description of the land, with no reference to a plan or diagram, these sketches are therefore useful in identifying the land parcels in these documents and any successive subdivisional actions over these parcels.

Many Search Sketches trace ownership from the first Crown Grant but others from a later deed as required for the investigation of the Primary Application. Search Sketches bear the same reference as their related Primary Application and are an invaluable aid to anyone searching an Old System chain of title.

Records in this set exclusively consist of sketches compiled to support (or repudiate) claims lodged as part of the Primary Application Official Search process, and are referenced by the Primary Application number allocated to the original Official Search. Records are organised numerically by this number; however are only arranged loosely into empty covers which are fastened with legal tape. Although most records only consist of one sheet, sketches with multiple sheets were kept together with split pins. This series has been prepared for preservation digitisation.