VPRS 5714 Land Selection Files, Section 12 Closer Settlement Act 1938 [including obsolete and top numbered Closer Settlement and WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement files]

This series comprises files relating to the Closer Settlement and WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement schemes. The majority of the files relate to allotments that were managed under Section 12 of the Closer Settlement Act 1938. These were files that originally started as a file selected under previous sections of Closer Settlement Acts from 1898 as well as files relating to allotments allocated to individuals under the Wold War 1 (WW1) Discharged Soldier Settlement scheme. This series also contains a variety of additional files relating in some way to the files subject to the provisions of Section 12.BackgroundPart III of the Land Act 1898 introduced a system by which the government was able to repurchase land for closer settlement. The object of this and subsequent legislation was to transform large estates into closely settled communities engaged in agriculture. The repurchased land was made available as farm allotments, agricultural labourers' allotments and workmen's home allotments to suitable applicants under the terms of conditional purchase leases. Certain residence and improvements conditions applied, initially for the first six years, after which time lessees were at liberty to mortgage, transfer or sub-let with consent and, on payment of the balance of the purchase money, to obtain a Crown Grant. Subsequently lessees were also eligible to apply for advances to assist them to erect dwellings and outbuildings and for other approved purposes.Land was allocated to applicants under conditional purchase leases which required lessees to fence the land, to destroy vermin and noxious weeds and to make other improvements. The leases were granted subject to residence requirements and lessees of agricultural labourers' allotments and workmen's home allotments were required to erect a dwelling within one year. The government also made financial advances to lessees to assist them to fence their land and to build the required dwellings. From 1922 assisted British immigrants were settled on the land as part of the Closer Settlement schemes.In 1917 under the provisions of the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act the government undertook the settlement of WW1 discharged soldiers on lands set aside exclusively for them as a reward for their war service. Special conditions such as low interest finance and no repayments for the first 3 years on 36 year purchase leases were introduced for the settlement of discharged soldiers. Please note: this series does not contain files relating to the settlement of discharged soldiers under the World War II scheme.Any Closer Settlement or WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement scheme allotment that was still active when the Closer Settlement Act 1938 commenced operation was automatically converted to become an allotment subject to the provisions of Section 12 of that Act. Accordingly, all of these files were allocated new section 12 file numbers.There are two major types of file in this series: the estate file and the land selection file.Estate Files, Survey and PurchaseThe estate file is the record of the repurchase of land for the purposes of either the Closer Settlement or the WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement Scheme. The file is normally arranged in two parts: the survey file and the purchase file. The survey file contains plans of the land to be recommended for purchase, valuations of the land and improvements, details of proposed subdivisions, the recommendations of the Closer Settlement Board on the purchase and correspondence with the Surveyor General, the valuer, the Shire and others.The purchase file is used in conjunction with the survey file. The purchase file is mainly a correspondence file containing correspondence between the Closer Settlement Office and the land holders, the valuer, the Shire prospective settlers, and others whose opinion or action is necessary for the purchase of the land. The file also contains descriptions and plans, file notes and instructions. The facing page is the "straight out offer of land". This page records the details of the offer; the details of the land, the decision of the Board and the final result; whether purchased or not.Land selection filesThe land selection files in this series document the period of time an allotment of land was subject to a lease under the Closer Settlement or WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement Schemes. Closer settlement and soldier settlement land was obtained by purchase lease agreements under which the settler leased and farmed the allotment while effectively purchasing the land from the Crown. When the full purchase price was paid, title to the land was transferred from the Crown to the settler and the file closed. Included in a selection file is the application to purchase lease the land, lease details including payment receipts, correspondence and instalment accounts, general correspondence regarding the allotment and the lease, land inspection reports and purchase arrangements. An insurance file is included with the selection file. Insurance was held on the dwelling, outbuildings and fencing while the purchase lease agreement was current.Top numbered filesNot every Closer Settlement or Discharged Soldier Settlement selector was successful in meeting all of the various financial arrangements and thus did not succeed in eventually purchasing the allotment. In a great many cases this led to the allotment been transferred to another settler. When this occurred, the file was allocated a new file number and new papers were added to it. (The term for replacing an existing file number with a new one is known as top numbering.) Files were not exclusively used for either of the two schemes. In other words a file may have started as a closer settlement file and then transferred to another individual to become a WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement file or vice versa. A file in this series could also be transferred any number of times; many of the land files in this series document two, three, four or more successive lessees before eventual purchase.Any Closer Settlement or WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement scheme file that was still active when the 1938 Closer Settlement Act was enacted was also top numbered. This meant that the Closer Settlement or WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement scheme file number that was then in operation was replaced with a Section 12 number. Six different sequences of numbers were created, one for each of the 6 Divisions of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey. Once again, file numbers were in the form of a fraction; the top number was the new application number and the bottom number was 12 signifying the section of the Act. The application number for each Division started at number 1 meaning there can be up to six files in this series which appear to share the same number.Obsolete filesThis series also contains a number of Closer Settlement and Discharged Soldier Settlement land files which document allotments that were abandoned and which were not subsequently transferred to another lessee. The reasons for this are unclear and subject to further research. As these were not active leases in 1938, the files were not top numbered to become a section 12 file and were retained according to the land file number of the last lessee documented on file. PROV has used the term obsolete files to distinguish these from those which have been top numbered.Advances and Financial filesSelectors under both the Closer Settlement and WW1 Discharged Soldier Settlement schemes were entitled to obtain advances from the government in order to finance the construction of homesteads, purchase of seeds, crop, farming implements, etc. Prior to the 1938 Act, this activity was documented on a separate file to the land selection file known as an advances file. Six series of advances files, one for each of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey Land Divisions, were created which complement this series. These are VPRS 745 (Advances Files - Northern Division), VPRS 746 (Advances Files - Geelong Division), VPRS 747 (Advances Files - Eastern Division), VPRS 748 (Advances Files - Western Division ), VPRS 749 (Advances Files - Mallee Division) and VPRS 10381 (Advances Files - Melbourne Division). These files were stored separately to the land selection files and were allocated different alpha numeric file numbers.By the time the 1938 Act was proclaimed the, often considerable, advances requiring repayment by the selectors had been scaled back after the allotments were revalued and any increase in value subtracted from the overall debt. All of the advances files for allotments still active when the 1938 Act was enacted were closed and a new file known as a Financial file was created. This file was kept along with the land selection file and can be found in this series (i.e VPRS 5714), usually tied to it with ribbon and were allocated the same Section 12 file number.