NRS-7933 | Letters received [Department of Lands and Public Works/Department of Lands I]

A considerable part of these records contain material relating to public works during the period 1856-59 when the Ministerial portfolio of Lands was united with that of Works to form the Department of Lands and Works. This material includes letters from the Colonial Architect concerning the repair and construction of public buildings such as court houses, police stations, gaols and lunatic asylums, letters from the Chief Commissioner for Railways concerning the management and construction of the railways, and letters from the Harbours and River Department relating to wharves, lighthouses, dredges etc. From 1856 to 1866 the general public normally applied to the Surveyor General or the Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands in matters concerning the sale or lease of Crown Land. Such applications were then referred by these officers to the Ministerial department if necessary. As a result of this much of the correspondence is from departments under the control of the Minister for Lands. The more important of these were:The Surveyor General concerning the sale of land, the issue of deeds of grant, the laying out of towns, villages, reserves etc.;The Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands concerning the sale of leases, applications to purchase by virtue of the right of pre-emption, schedules of tenders for runs;Gold Commissioners forwarding reports on gold fields, the discovery of new fields, returns of miners rights, gold escort arrangements, and returns of Chinese on the gold fields;The Immigration Agent (1859-66) notifying the arrival of immigrant vessels, the disposal of the immigrants, and reports on the conditions of immigrant vessels;Road Trusts and Municipal bodies mostly concerning the appropriation of funds for the repair and construction of roads and bridges;Coal Fields Examiner, reports on the opening of new fields, reports on accidents in mines, and regulations for the working of mines;Police Magistrates and Benches of Magistrates, chiefly concerning the annual distribution of blankets to Aboriginal peoples by the government; andThe Superintendent of Alpacas relating to the attempt to introduce the alpaca into New South Wales, the cost of which was borne by the government.The correspondence also includes letters from private persons, including applications from persons soliciting employment in departments under the control of the Minister for Lands, and letters from other government departments such as the Colonial Secretary, Treasury and Crown Solicitor. A tracing showing a portion of the Lower Richmond River with the position of the towns of Codrington, Casino, Lismore and Ballina, dated April 1857, has been extracted from 5/3580 and separately located at SR Map No.6385. (5/3562-712, SR Map No.6385, SR Map No. 6413). 151 boxes, 2 maps. Note: This description is extracted from Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd Edition 2000.