NRS-21128 | Conditional Purchase Registers [Maitland Land Board Office]

This series of  registers contain a summary record of all Conditional Purchases within the districts controlled by the Maitland Land Board.Under the Crown Lands Act of 1861 (25Vic. No.1) the provision of conditional purchase tenure was established. Any unreserved crown land not held under pastoral or other leases could be purchased.  Any leaseholder could apply to conditional purchase the land they are leasing at agreed terms with their local land agent. (1) The registers record information such as the name and address of the purchaser or transferee, the date of application or transfer, the area and a description of the land, the deposit paid, any caveat or appeals details, whether the application was disallowed or confirmed, if it was forfeited or abandoned, an appraisement of improvements, and reference to folio of minute books. Most volumes record the conditional purchases for one land district controlled by the Maitland District Land Board, and are organised annually and numerically, with future land transferees listed under the original conditional purchase number. Some volumes record activity in more than one land district with each district organised separately in an annual and numeric numbering system. While the original conditional purchases for each register may only cover a short period they have been then used into the future to record subsequent transferees. For example register AB287 has original conditional purchases recorded for the years 1886-1893 but the register is in use listing transferees until 1910. Volumes documenting activity in more than one land district also contain an index of districts showing page numbers.Department of Lands circular 12/1935 states that by 31 December 1935, bound registers should be replaced by a card system. (2)Endnotes1. The Official Year Book of New South Wales 1904-1905. Authority of the Government of the State of New South Wales, W.A. Gullick, Government Printer 1906, p.58.2. NRS 8801, Department of Lands circulars [Crown Land Agent Dungog].