VPRS 3649 Register of Payment of Pastoral Rents

Full description

The Order in Council 1847 divided New South Wa;les, which included the Port Phillip District into Unsettled, Intermediate and Settled Districts for the purpose of pastoral occupation. Leases for up to fourteen years could be obtained in the Unsettled Districts, for up to eight years in the Intermediate Districts and for one year in the Settled Districts. Rents were to be proportional to the carrying capacity of the land with ten pounds per annum being the minimum.

The Land Act 1862 modified these conditions , converting all licenses to yearly ones until 1870. Rents were to continue to be calculated on the basis of the carrying capacity of the land with the occupier having rights of appeal against the determination by the assessors of the Board of Land and Works. New runs were made available for lease for no more than 14 years with the rights to be bid upon at auction. Rents were to be payable in half yearly instalments in June and December. In general terms, these provisions were confirmed by the Land Act 1869 and the Land Act 1884.

Circulars were sent notifying licensees and lessees of the rent due and lists were published in the Government Gazette at June and December. Rents were able to be paid either locally or directly to the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538) where the keeping of rent rolls was instituted in 1862. Previous records of rent payments were kept by the Treasury (from 1849) and destroyed by a process of periodical destruction. Returns of rent payments from districts outside Melbourne may be seen in VPRS 809 Return of Pastoral Rents Received.