VPRS 13495 Register of Applications, Melbourne, Section 32 Land Act 1884 (Melbourne District Survey Office)

VPRS 13495 Register of Applications, Melbourne, Section 32 Land Act 1884 Melbourne District Survey Office) was created by the District Survey Office at Melbourne. It is duplicated by Register of Applications, Melbourne, Section 32 Land Act (Occupation Branch) (VPRS 13494) which is the register created by the 'Melbourne District Office' at the Occupation Branch.VPRS 13495 / P1 was previously registered as Units 31 and 70 of VPRS 446 / P Application Registers Land Act 1884.Section 42 of the Land Act 1884 (as confirmed in the consolidated Land Act 1890) provided for the issue to grazing area lessees (under Section 32 of the same Act) of licences to occupy for agricultural allotments not exceeding 320 acres in extent. Persons who had selected that amount of land under previous Land Acts were not eligible for this provision. Those who had selected less than the 320 acres could select the amount of land necessary to make it up to 320 acres.Rent was set at one shilling per acre per annum with the licensee to reside on the allotment and make improvements to it. During the period of this license the land could be resumed by the Crown for a number of specified purposes with the repayment of any rentals or if the terms of the license were not complied with If these conditions and conditions relating to the control of vermin and fencing were complied with, at the end of this time a lease for up to 14 years was able to be applied for at the rental of one shilling per acre per annum or a Crown grant could be obtained by the payment of the full purchase price of fourteen shillings per acre. Lessees could obtain a Crown grant at any time during this fourteen year period by the payment of the difference between the rent already paid under the lease and the set price of fourteen shillings per acre.This Section was amended in Section 44 of the Land Act 1898 to divide lands into three classes for the purpose of the licensing of these agricultural allotments. No more than 200 acres of first-class lands were to be licensed at the rent of one shilling per acre per annum; no more than three hundred and twenty acres of second-class land at the annual rental of ninepence per acre. Both types of land were to be licensed for no more than six years. In the 1898 Act, Sections 58 and 59 provided for the extension of the licensing and leasing provisions for agricultural allotments to grazing allotments. In addition, Section 59 allowed the licensing of third-class land for a period of six years for sixpence per acre per annum. Under the consolidated Land Act of 1901, agricultural allotments were dealt with under Sections 47 (licensing) and 49 (leasing) and grazing allotments by Sections 54 (licensing) and Section 56 (leasing).Instructions were given, with the issue of new stationery to District Survey Offices in 1899 that the numbers allocated for applications in these books were to commence at the whole thousand after that of the register currently in use. Thus if the current register for Section 42 applications had numbers between 1 and 1000, the new volume was to commence at number 2001. This ensured that all of these applications from the 1884 Land Act under Section 42 and its subsequent sections were registered in the one series. From the registers, and from other sources it is apparent that from c1910, the Occupation Branch were keeping their records on index cards rather than in the volumes used prior to then.When an application to select Crown land was received by the Department it would be registered in a register of applications. The contents of registers of applications were arranged alphabetically and application numbers were allocated consecutively in blocks for each letter of the alphabet.Separate registers of applications were usually created for each section of the Land Act under which individuals could apply to select land. For example, all applications received under section 32 of the Land Act 1884 were recorded in the same register. Sections of an Act that were less common were often recorded in the one register.In an attempt to try and rationalise the way the Department managed Crown land, the Occupation Branch was established in 1874 under the influence of H Byron Moore, Assistant Surveyor General. The Occupation Branch was to deal with all matters relating to the occupation of Crown land.The State was divided into fifteen Land Districts, these being Ararat, Ballarat, Beechworth, Benalla, Castlemaine and Dunolly, Echuca, Geelong Warrnambool and Camperdown, Hamilton, Horsham, Melbourne, Sale and Bairnsdale, Sandhurst (Bendigo), Seymour and St Arnaud. Each District was represented at the Occupation Branch in Melbourne by a 'District Land Office'.Each District Land Office consisted of a double table or desk at which both a clerk and draughtsman sat. Everything in the way of files, maps and plans were at convenient reach. The same officers dealt with the sale of Crown land from its 'inception to its disposition'. The District Offices' staff consisted essentially of a clerical officer and a draughtsman who dealt solely with that Land District. It was their business to know the District and to deal with all land business related to it. By 1877 each District Land Office, consisted of a District Officer, a rental clerk, a draughtsman and several general clerks.After the establishment of the Occupation Branch in 1874 and the division of the State into Land Districts, applications were registered by District. Each 'District Land Office' created and maintained their own series of registers of applications. Any new applications received by the Department after 1874 were registered in separate District registers with applications numbers that were allocated from the number one onwards. The same application number could be allocated for selections in different Districts. For example the application number 1021/32 could exist in both the Ballarat and Bendigo Land Districts. It is the District name plus the accompanying file number that is the unique identifier.Applicants completed an application form at District Survey Offices. Most Land Districts had a District Survey Office. The District Surveyor would enter the applicants' details in a register of applications kept at the District Survey Office. The register of applications allocated a number to each applicant. The application number was written on the application to select and subsequently became their land selection file number if their application was approved.The District Surveyor would enter into the register of applications the application number, the date the application was received, the applicants' name, occupation and parish, the allotment number and size (acres, roods and perches) applied for. The application was then forwarded to the appropriate District Land Office at the Occupation Branch in Melbourne. It was then entered in a duplicate register of applications there against the same application number. The District Surveyor also forwarded a tracing of the allotment applied for.The position of the allotment applied for was immediately charted on a working plan in pencil. The tracing was then sent to the Department of Mines and Water Supply (VA 2720) for a report on any mining objections. If there were no mining objections the application would be heard before a Local Land Board. Local Land Boards were made up of representatives from the local community and the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538). The Boards would hear from all applicants for an allotment and would decide who was to be granted the licence or lease. The schedule documenting the decisions of the Local Land Board was forwarded to the appropriate District Land Office at the Occupation Branch and the decision was entered into the register of applications.The Board of Land and Works (VA 744), the statutory authority for the management of Crown land would give final approval for land selection, acting on the recommendation of the Local Land Board. The decision of the Board of Land and Works (VA 744) was then recorded in the register of applications. The registers also record the date of the licence or lease issue and any subsequent action in relation to that file. The selectors granted each allotment would then be recorded on the working plan by the District Land Office draughtsman at the Occupation Branch. The tracing of the allotment was then sent to the Crown Land Bailiff responsible for that Land District.Registers of applications control selection and occupation files. If an application to select Crown land was successful, the application number would become the file number. For example if an application to select under section 42 of the Land Act 1884 was registered as application number 324 then the selection or occupation file number would be 324/42.The application number remained the selection file number for a particular piece of land if all terms and conditions were met and the selection resulted in a Crown Grant. However, often the original selector did not end up owning the land. Many selectors forfeited or abandoned their licence or lease. If this were the case then the land was re-opened up for selection. Any new applicants were registered in a register of applications under a new application number. The original applicants file would be attached to the new selectors file. The new file number was annotated in the register against the original selectors' entry.Even if the same selector applied for a licence on land he had previously forfeited a new application number would be allocated and the file would have a new selection file number.