VPRS 11871 Register of Leases Granted Under Land Acts 1869, 1878, 1880

Full description

Leases were registered in Registers of Leases.The Register of Leases recorded details of the reference (or file) number, the name and parish of the lessee, the allotment and section of the land and its area in acres, roods and perches, the date of the lease, the date of the Governor's consent to it, the date of its execution, the date and place of its final issue and any remarks. Spaces were also left for notation of the Red-Faced Reports regarding the observance of conditions governing the issue of leases.

Under the Land Acts, Crown land could be leased for use by private persons or organisations under various terms and conditions. Some leases were for the use of the land for a finite time, others were perpetual leases whilst others were a form of deferred purchase whereby the rent paid under a fixed term lease was credited against the total purchase price for the land. The terms and conditions of leases were specified in the relevant sections of the Acts and in regulations made under the Acts.

Before leases came into force, they may have needed to be approved by the Board of Land and Works (VA 744) as shown in VPRS 11870 / P1 Schedules of Land Grants, Leases, Licenses and Sales Submitted for Approval to the Board of Land and Works. The extent of this requires further research. All substantial leases needed the approval of the Governor-in-Council. These approvals may be seen in the records of the Executive Council and of the Department of Crown Land and Survey's own records relating to the Executive Council. Leases were then executed by the parties to them, the drawing up of them and their execution being the responsibility of the Deeds Branch of the Department. Often leases were sent to country areas for execution and delivery and their receipt there may be seen in the Registers of Deeds for districts throughout Victoria.

This series registers leases under mainly under Sections 20, 33 and 31 of the Land Act 1869 and other sections of that and subsequent Acts in 1878 and 1880 governing the leasing of Crown Lands.