NRS-8258 | Letters received [Miscellaneous Branch, later Parks and Reserves Branch, Department of Lands]

Full description

This series comprises the letters received by the Miscellaneous Branch, Department of Lands, from 1929 known as the Parks and Reserves Branch, Department of Lands. These letters deal with administrative matters such as Sale of land due to improvements, e.g. miner’s right, pastoral tenants on basis of improvements; Sales under Clauses 9, 10, 11, 12, of Crown Lands Act 1861 [later Crown Lands Consolidation Act 1913], Matters regarding free grants of land; Reservation of land for various public purposes including parks and reserves; Oyster beds; Resumptions for railways; Subjects not handled by other branches. (1)

The files are registered in annual single number (year and file number) with a prefix of ‘Ms’ for Miscellaneous Branch, or later ‘Pks’ for Parks and Reserves Branch, with files being ‘top numbered’ and tracked in related registers. Some letters may also have a suffix for its category of ‘Dep’ [i.e. received from a Departmental official]. (2) From 22 May 1924, due to the voluminous nature of some files, papers were divided into an ‘Action File’ of current papers and a ‘Back file’ of older papers unrelated to the current matter. The ‘Back File’ would be put away separately from the ‘Action File’. (3)

Endnotes
1. Terry Kass, Unlocking Land: A Guide to Crown Land Records held at State Archives NSW, (The Author, 2019), pp.27-28.
2. ibid., p.60.
3. ibid., p.61.

1867-1925 (2/1035-395, 2/4287-88, 10/776C, 10/3607-833, 20/7157-9204, 20/14724, 10/41119-41120 part), 1926-51 (13/950-1837), 1952-79 (12/278-715, 12/2568-883, 12/3025-299, 12/5624-879, 20/13405). 4816 boxes.

Note:
This description, as amended, is extracted from Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd Edition 2000.