VPRS 14043 Register of Approved Applications, Alexandra, Other Sections Land Acts 1901 and 1915 (Alexandra District Land Office)

Full description

From about 1901 there was a steady decline in new applications being made under the Land Acts. In mid-1907 a circular was sent to District Land Officers notifying them that from that time onwards, all applications regardless of Act and Section of the Act, were to be recorded in a single register kept at the District Land Office and allocated an annual single number. Details recorded were the number allocated the application, the date of receipt, the name and postal address of the applicant, the location and extent of the land and the details of the recommendation by the Local Land Board and the disposal of the application (ie where it was forwarded or filed). A weekly return of all applications received was to be forwarded to Melbourne as well as a list of the cases to be considered by the Local Land Board prior to hearings. Records of a number of Local Land Boards are currently in custody.

Once applications had been ruled upon by the Local Land Board, details of those which had been successful were to be entered in the register, as in this series, to be kept at the District Land Office for specific Sections of an Act. These registers contained the same details as in the general application register and then annotations relating to the Local Land Board, the dates of issue of any license and references and remarks. Details may include the dates of the issue of any lease or Crown grant or of entries in the Government Gazette as well as references to correspondence or file management.

Section 93 and Section 91 of the Land Act 1884 (later Section 99, Land Act 1890, Section 145 of the Land Act 1901 and Section 129, Land Act 1915) provided for the licensing or leasing of Crown lands for a multitude of purposes such as rural businesses, the removal of raw materials and other purposes none of which were to be agricultural or grazing. Licenses were renewable annually at a fee to be set. Leases under the 1884 Act for these purposes were to be of no more than three acres at an annual rental of five pounds.

Section 147 of the Land Act 1901 (subsequently Section 139, Land Act 1915) allowed the licensing of bee-keeping establishments of not more than one acre for one year on any Crown land including that held under an agricultural license or lease or a grazing lease.

Section 119, Land Act 1884 provided for the issuing of grazing licenses for Crown lands not otherwise held. This provision continued as Section 123, Land Act 1890 and Section 187, Land Act 1901.

Successful applications had cards created at the Occupation Branch replacing the registers. One card was to record the details of the application and subsequently, record correspondence and file management matters and the other was to record the payments of rent instead of these being entered in rent rolls.

Unsuccessful applications were to be sent to Melbourne, marked with the application number written inside the District Office stamp to be 'Put Away'. These would continue to be available in case of appeal against the decision of the Local Land Board.

District Survey Offices and the Lands Enquiry Office in Melbourne could receive applications for any Land District. These were recorded in special registers, without being allocated a number, with the papers then being sent to the Land Officer of the District in which the land applied for was situated this being noted in the register.

The system of District Land Offices parallelled by similar 'District Offices' in the Occupation Branch continued, with a smaller number of physically separate offices outside Melbourne. Within the Occupation Branch itself, officers dealt with the business of a number of District Offices with the number of Divisions within the Branch fluctuating relative to the amount of business to be transacted, this in turn being affected by legislative enactments.

VPRS 14043/P1 was previously registered as Unit 6 of VPRS 453 / P Application Registers (Numerical) Land Act 1901.