VPRS 16171 Regional Land Office Parish and Township Plans Digitised Reference Set

Full description

OVERVIEW

This series contains digitised copies of parish, township, soldier settlement, closer settlement, land settlement, county and other miscellaneous plans. The plans are 'working plans', used to record information about use of Crown Land (leases, for example) and were maintained by various regional land offices throughout Victoria. They cover all areas of Victoria, including Melbourne, and may record information dating from establishment of the Port Phillip District and the first official land sales (1837) up until the time of scanning (2001 - 2004). The plans were collated and digitised by the Bendigo regional land office: the intention being to provide a consolidated, readily accessible and unalterable reference set of the last hardcopy plans in current use prior to moving to the use of digital systems to create and manage plans.


CREATION OF THE REFERENCE SET

Scanning took place over the period 2001 to 2004 and was managed by the Bendigo regional land office. Plans were sourced from the regional land offices throughout Victoria. Central and metropolitan Melbourne is included.

The idea to create the set originated within the Bendigo regional land office and arose from a recognition that continued creation and maintenance of such plans in physical format was becoming problematic. Increasing amounts of plan data was becoming available in digital format within Departmental systems leading to duplication of effort. Also, structural changes within the Department created an increasing requirement to be able to access plans independently of geographic location, which was difficult with physical plans because they could only be readily accessed at the regional office where they were physically located.

A decision was reached to cease maintaining the plans in physical format. This digitised reference set provides a consolidated, readily accessible and unalterable copy of the physical plans in current use around the time of the decision to go digital. In effect it provides a snapshot of Crown land usage throughout Victoria in the period 2001 to 2004.

The precise criteria for inclusion of plans in the collection is subject to further research at time of writing (2009) but is thought to have been based on current and anticipated future reference requirements. Best available copies were selected for imaging.

The physical plans from which the images derive are believed, at time of writing, to remain in the custody of the Land office from where they were sourced.


INFORMATIONAL CONTENT

The plans in this series are known as Working Plans.

Their primary use was to record information about the use of Crown Land as opposed to its status, in terms of alienation from the Crown (see below for further explanation).

Matters referenced by working plans could include:

1. Temporary tenure of Crown land not involving alienation. For example, fixed term leases and licenses to occupy.
2. Changes in road alignments and property boundaries.
3. Proposed changes in boundaries and alignments.
4. Enquiries and preliminary dealings relating to the sale of land.
5. Details of Crown reservations including details of gazettal and file numbers.
6. References to regional registers of dealings.
7. Use and management of Crown lands. For example, details of changes in the use of Crown reserves and details of how they were managed.

File numbers of correspondence files maintained in relation to matters may also be shown.

The plans also include details of the alienation of land from the Crown (names of selectors, dates and selection file numbers) but these plans are not the definitive, legal record of the land's status in terms of its alienation from the Crown. This is recorded on a corresponding, centrally maintained set of plans known as Record plans. The working plans in this series were derived from Record plans, hence the inclusion of alienation details (see further below for more details).

Information may date from the earliest official land transactions in the region covered by the plan, and may extend to the period 2001 to 2004. The first official transactions occurred in the area of the current day Melbourne central business district in 1837 (first official land sales).


DATE RANGES

At least three date ranges may be attributed to the plans.

1. The date of imaging. For the entire collection this is 2001 to 2004 and is reflected in the series date range and the consignment series date ranges.
2. The date of the information content of the plans. For the entire collection this is assumed to be 1837 to 2004, reflecting the earliest and latest transaction dates likely to be recorded within the collection. 1837 is the year of the first official land sales in the area which is now the Melbourne central business district. The earliest year sighted during inspection of a sample of plans, however, is 1838. 2004 is the year when imaging ceased and so is the latest possible year that information could have been recorded on a plan. The precise end date is subject to further research. The informational content date range is reflected in the series contents date range and the consignment contents date ranges. The uncertainly is denoted by use of the '?' qualifier.

Note that no attempt has been made to ascertain an information content date range for the Soldier and Closer Settlement plans and other miscellaneous plans. It is too difficult to determine accurate start and end dates and any attempt to estimate could be misleading. Suffice to say, the Soldier and Closer Settlement plans would commence around or some time after the commencement of the respective schemes. Information about the respective schemes may be obtained from the PROV Lands Guide, any series related to the schemes that have been registered in the PROV catalogue and external secondary sources.

3. The date of the hardcopy plan itself, in other words, the date it was first copied from the centrally maintained Record plan for subsequent use by the regions. These dates are subject to further research and are unlikely to be of immediate significance for most research purposes. In any event, this date is typically recorded on each plan.


CONTENTS

More detailed information about the types of plans to be found in the reference set and their use may be obtained by reference to the PROV Lands Guide 2009 and to any series that may have been registered in the PROV catalogue in relation to specific plan types or the soldier and closer/land settlement schemes.

Parish and Township Plans (Consignment P1):
Plans are thought to exist for all parishes and townships except for several remote parishes in the North East. It is not known if parish plans were ever created for these parishes. Plans exist for the Melbourne city and metropolitan area.

Soldier and Closer Settlement Plans (Consignment P2):
Plans exist for both post World War I and post World War II Soldier Settlement schemes, although the completeness of the collection is subject to further research as at time writing. Plans also exist for Closer Settlement and post World War II Land Settlement schemes. Again, completeness is subject to further research.

Miscellaneous Plans (Consignment P2 and possibly P1):
The range of plans is subject to further research.

County Plans (Consignment P2):
Completeness is subject to further research.

County and Parish Index (Consignment P3):
These are plans of Victoria showing County and Parish boundaries and names. They can be used to identify which county or parish a particular area of interest belongs. They include the Melbourne and metropolitan area. There are four plans covering: Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast. The Melbourne and metropolitan region is covered in the Southwest plan. The plans have been included in a separate consignment for convenience of access.

PLAN NUMBERS

Plan numbering systems relating to the original plans in this series have not been researched and documented as part of this series. Further information may possibly be obtained from the PROV Lands Guide and, if any original plans have been separately registered in the PROV catalogue, from the series description for that registration.

The number in the image file title is the parish or township's unique 4 digit identification code, assigned by the Central Plan Office.


MANAGEMENT OF WORKING PLANS: HISTORICAL NOTE

Historically, two sets of working plans were maintained: one centrally in Melbourne at departmental level and the other by the various regional land offices. Each regional office maintained plans relating to the geographical area for which it was responsible. Plans were maintained in tandem between Melbourne and the regional offices, with changes and annotations communicated between them and plans updated accordingly. In theory, two identical versions of each plan existed. It is believed, however, that the maintenance of plans in tandem was breaking down by the 1970's with more responsibility devolving to the regional offices.

Historically, the Occupation Branch (OB) within the Department of Crown Lands and Survey maintained the central set of plans. In 1983, major administrative changes saw the winding up of the Branch and devolution of its responsibilities to the regional land offices. Regional offices became responsible for the maintenance of working plans within their respective areas. The retired or 'put-away' (see below) plans that had been maintained by the Occupation Branch were distributed to the regions. It is not known if the current plans of the Branch, as at 1983, were so distributed. This is still subject to research at time of writing.

Some of the original plans that have been scanned for this collection may therefore have originated from the former Occupation Branch.


PUT-AWAY WORKING PLANS

Over time, new versions of plans could be created to replace those that had become worn or cluttered. The data on the old plan was transferred to the new plan. Superseded plans were retired from use and were known as 'put-away' plans. Current plans were known as 'current plans'. Both regional land offices and the Occupation Branch maintained sets of put-away plans as well as current plans.

It is uncertain whether all historical information was transferred to a new plan from the soon-to-be put-away plan, although opinions expressed by staff of the Bendigo land office as at 2006 leaned towards the belief that the information was transferred. It is also uncertain to what extent superseded (put-away) plans have survived over time.

The plans imaged in this series were those considered current at the time. Researchers who cannot locate information of interest on plans in this series may benefit from contacting the regional land office currently responsible for administering the relevant area.


RECORD PLANS

Historically, the management of Crown Land has been organised around use or occupation, on the one hand, and land status, in terms of its alienation from the Crown, on the other hand. As noted previously, working plans are concerned with use or occupation. The legal record of the status of Crown Land was recorded on corresponding sets of plans known as Record Plans. Record plans were maintained centrally in Melbourne at departmental level.

Working plans are copies of Record plans. Regional offices used the copy of a Record plan as the basis on which to record information relating to land use or occupation. Hence a Working plan will also contain information relating to land status. Examination of a selection of working plans suggests details of original selectors are likely to appear equally on both sets of plans. Note, however, that other details included on an original Record plan, such as details of plans from which the current plan has been compiled, names of surveyors, certifications and the certification of the Surveyor-General, may not appear on the Working plans. Researchers should bear in mind that the two sets of plans were created and maintained for different purposes and should not assume one set of plans can be used as a substitute for the other.