VPRS 13074 Register of Licensees, Alexandra, Section 49 Land Act 1869

Section 49 of the Land Act 1869 allowed the granting of a license for the occupation of auriferous (gold-bearing) land for a period of one year at a time. The amount of land was to be no more than 20 acres with an individual being permitted to hold one licence only. The fees were to be set by regulation.As this land had already been surveyed for mining purposes and to determine the extent of the auriferous (or gold-bearing) lands, applications could be ruled upon efficiently and expeditiously. An application under this section of the Act was able to be submitted to either the Department of Crown Lands and Survey in Melbourne or at the office of the local representative or agent of the department. The application would be registered in an Applications Register and allocated a number in order of receipt. Applications submitted under Section 49 Land Act 1869 would go before a Local Lands Board (see Section 100 Land Act 1869).The functions of Local Lands Boards were to investigate and report upon every application, to protect the public and local interests and promote the advantageous occupation of land. Commissions and Local Lands Boards included in their membership the Surveyor-General, the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Survey, the Secretary for Mines, chairmen and members of Mining Boards and Shire Councils and were assisted by District Surveyors, other officers of the Department and Mining Surveyors who had made the surveys of the sites applied for. These Local Lands Boards were held in district centres and other principal centres of population. The decision with respect to the application arrived at by the Local Lands Board was then entered in the Applications Register.With the granting of the application, application then had to be made to the Governor-in-Council, as prescribed in the Act, to grant a licence of occupation to the successful applicant. In the same way, cancellations and / or revocations of licences and transfers of licences had to be approved by the Governor-in-Council. Some of these records may be seen in VPRS 863 Orders in Council Regarding the Issue and Cancellation of Licences , Land Acts 1865 and 1869.Once this leave had been granted by the Governor-in-Council, the licence was issued and an entry was then made in the Licence Register. These registers were arranged firstly by district or group of contiguous districts and then in alphabetical sections according to family name of the licensee. The Licence Register provided a record of the number of the licence issued (different to the application number), the location and size of the land licensed for occupation, the payment of rents and, in the remarks column, the subsequent history of that holding of land and of the licence to occupy it.This series also contains a number of entries relating to the partial payment of purchase money under Sections 31 and 33 of the Land Act 1869 and a memorandum of some business under Section 36 Mines Act 1890.VPRS 13074/P1 was previously registered as VPRS 1290/P Unit 13. It was reserialised in 2002.