VPRS 15571 Report of Land Sales by Public Auction, Tender and Private Treaty, Closer Settlement

Under the Closer Settlement Acts (see Section 65, Closer Settlement Act 1909, Section 77 of the Closer Settlement Act 1915 and Section 98 Closer Settlement Act 1928) the Closer Settlement Board (later the Closer Settlement Commission and later the Department of Crown Lands and Survey) was authorised to relinquish land acquired for closer settlement with the payment of its value to the Closer Settlements Fund.Available land was advertised in the Government Gazette. Within land acquired for and proclaimed as a township, land was sold by public auction. Other land, either on an estate or blocks elsewhere was advertised as being available by public tender or by private treaty.This series documents details of Crown land sales by public auction, private treaty and tender conducted in accordance with the relevant Orders-in-Council and Land Acts. This series was created by the department to assist in its day to day operations and the administration of the issue of Crown Grants. The reports of land sales by public auction contained information transcribed from the individual Auctioneers Reports of Land Sales by Public Auction (VPRS 80), which were sent to the department after each auction.The branch referred to this series in order to check the details of the sales. It appears that they were treated as a reference record upon which the monthly summaries of sales were based (see VPRS 11861 Statistical Summary of Sales by Auction).The following details were recorded:Place and Date of Sale by Public Auction or Private Treaty or TenderLotCounty / Town and where relevant, name of estateAllotment / SectionExtent Sold /Unsold - Why not SoldUpset Price per AcreSold forName and Residence of PurchaserDeposit PaidBalanceDetails of Instalment PaymentsTotalAs part of the recordkeeping system governing the sale of land by public auction, the department also prepared a Statistical Summary of Sales by Auction (VPRS 11861), which provided summary information regarding the total area of land alienated from the Crown in this manner and the revenue received from such sales.