VPRS 767 Return of Agricultural Lands Sold and Leased, Land Act 1862

This series consists of returns sent from District Survey Offices each week notifying the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538) of the land sold and leased through that office in the previous week. Details given are the date, the number of the lot, the location (County and Parish) and extent of the land, the amount realised by selection, limited auction or by lease, the name and the address of the purchaser or lessee and the date of the sale or lease. Other details may include remarks regarding the occupation of the purchaser or lessee.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. as did those who could prove previous purchase of the land selected.Summaries of selections made under the Land Act 1862 arranged by District Survey Office may be found in VPRS 1262 Returns of Selections, Land Act 1862. Further details of selections made under Sections 23 and 24, Sections 33 and 34 and Section 37 may be found in VPRS 14145 Register of Applications All Districts Land Act 1862.