VPRS 5239 Register of Agricultural Lands Proclaimed for Selection, Horsham District, Land Act 1862

Part II of the Land Act 1862 allowed for the Sale of Lands by Selection. More than 10 million acres of land was reserved for proclamation as agricultural areas for residence and cultivation and not less than four million acres was to be available for selection within three months of the passing of the Act. Land was to be surveyed into lots of at least 40 acres and not more than 640 acres with each lot to be divided into two subdivisions. Selectors could purchase both subdivisions at the price of one pound per acre, or could purchase one subdivision and lease the other one. Persons holding occupation licenses under terms of the notices of 1861 had a pre-emptive right to select the land which they were occupying with the consent of the Board of Land and Works.Leases were to be for eight years at a rent of two and sixpence per acre or part of an acre with the lessee having a pre-emptive right of purchase. Selectors could not be infants or married women (unless they had obtained a judicial separation) and had to be resident in Victoria. No-one could select more than 640 acres in a year. Unselected land or land where leases were forfeited were to be sold at public auction. Conditions of the selection were that selectors would, within a year of the selection, cultivate one tenth of the land, or erect a habitable dwelling upon it or fence the land.Applications were to be made in the form set down in the Schedules to the Act in person at a land office and be accompanied by the purchase price of the whole lot or the purchase price for half and one years rent in advance for the other half. Applications were to be entered into a register, which was to be open to public inspection, by the land officer . The priority of the order of applications was to be determined by lot. Any refusal of an application was to be notified within thirty days in the Government Gazette with the reasons for refusal or disallowance being given.This series is probably either a register as defined by the Act or was created and maintained to record the details of selections made and the administrative decisions and actions taken subsequent to selections.Identified are the place of proclamation and the parish with the details of the sections, allotments and subdivisions available for selection. The date and time of the application were given with the names and addresses of purchasers and lessees and the amount paid for the land purchased. Details were also given of the extent of purchased land and of leasehold land and the amounts of rent to be paid for the latter. It must be noted that land might have been proclaimed as open for selection but was not necessarily selected.Details of lessees were entered into a Register of Lessees.This series was previously attributed to Horsham Courts.