VPRS 13251 Register of Lessees, Maldon, Various Land Acts

Under a variety of Sections of Land Acts passed from 1865 onwards, selectors could initially acquire land by being licensed for occupation or by leasing the land from the Crown. Leases were of up to ten years duration, often with the lessee having a pre-emptive right of purchase of the land.Leases were approved by the Governor-in-Council with them being registered in Registers of Leases at the Department of Crown Lands and Survey.Lessees would pay rent to the local Receiver of Revenue convenient to their location, returns of payments would be forwarded to the office of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey in Melbourne where they would be recorded in the appropriate Register of Lessees. With the formation of the Occupation Branch and the conduct of business according to the District Survey Offices established, these registers were then allocated to a specific District Survey Office within the Occupation Branch. Records within these registers may be for properties which, after 1874, were located in parishes which had been allocated to different District Survey Offices.The volume in this series is believed to be one kept by the Receiver of Revenue located at Maldon which came under the control of the Castlemaine District Survey Office. Entries were made to record the payment of rents from lease and license holders in this area before returns were forwarded to Melbourne.VPRS 13251/P1 was previously registered as Unit 6 of VPRS 1312/P Register of Lessees, Land Act 1869, Section 33.