VPRS 14981 Memorandum and Circulars, Surveyor General

The Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538) was responsible for the management, licensing, and leasing of Victorian Crown Lands. In order for the Department to perform the wide range of duties associated with this responsibility efficiently, it was necessary to supplement any standardised instructions with circulars and memoranda as legislation was changed or a decision was made to change procedures. Other circulars and memoranda assisted in the administration of the department itself.This series consists of bound volumes of memorandum, circulars, and departmental orders both sent to and created by the clerks of the Surveyor General's Branch of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey as guidance and direction in the carrying out of their duties. The various Branches of the Department collated the circulars in different ways, using different systems of control and arrangement, and called them by different names. Each Branch distributed the circulars to others within their division. Notes, such as distribution lists, correspondence or file numbers, and actions relating to the subject of the circular, were often written on the circular.This series has been separated from the memorandum and circulars in VPRS 14295 Circulars and VPRS 14297 Memorandum in order to remain faithful to the organisational structure of the Department. The Surveyor General's Department (VA 2921) and the Crown Lands Department (VA 2878) were amalgamated to form the Department of Crown Lands and Survey in 1857. Administratively, however, they remained quite separate bodies - the Administrative Branch (primarily managed by the Chief Clerk although some divisions reported directly to the Secretary for Lands) and the Survey Branch (primarily managed by the Surveyor General). Both the Surveyor General's Branch and the Chief Clerk's Branch reported to the Secretary for Lands.Circulars and memorandum within this series were either sent to the Surveyor General's Branch from the Secretary for Lands, Chief Clerks Branch, Closer Settlement Branch, Immigration and Labour Branch, Vermin Destruction Branch, Botanical Gardens Branch, and other divisions of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey or created and circulated by the Surveyor General's Branch itself. Each of these often had separate and distinct recordkeeping and numbering systems.