VPRS 16620 Register of Public Lands Sales (Castlemaine Survey Office)

This series consists of a register of public land sales held within the Castlemaine distinct. The volume includes auctions held mostly at Castlemaine but also at Hepburn, Daylesford, and Maldon.Details given are the date and location of auction and information about each piece of land for sale at the auction. For each piece of land, this information includes, a lot number, allocation and section number, acreage details (in acres, roods and perches), the name of parish or township, the name of the purchaser, the upset and selling price of the land, the residence of the purchaser (the name of a parish or township) and sale details comprising deposits, balance and total prices. Pieces of land which were withdrawn from sale or which did not receive a bid are also identified.It is unclear how this particular volume fits in with other series which document the sale of public lands at auction in the PROV Collection. The provenance of the volume as being created by the "Government Survey Office, Castlemaine" was determined by reference to an annotation on the front cover of the volume.It does not appear as though the function of this volume was primarily to keep account of the sale of the properties. This appears to be the function of VPRS 15576 Register of Land Sales, Castlemaine, in which the details of each auction is authenticated by the relevant Receiver and Paymaster. No such authentication is apparent in this volume.The existence of other volumes from this series is currently unknown. The P1 consignment was transferred to PROV from private hands during 2010.