VPRS 3558 Mining Warden's Registers of Surveys, Gordon Mining Division

In the course of their duties, Mining Wardens were on occasion required to instruct the Mining Surveyor within their Mining Division to conduct a survey. Surveys would be undertaken for the following reasons:- as part of the process of considering applications for mining leases or licences received,- if deemed necessary in resolving disputed territories in cases before him- in instances where applicants sought to obtain land through license, lease or purchase under one of the various Lands Acts of the 1860's because some land could only be alienated if there was no objection from the Minister of Mines or if special mining conditions were imposed, or- from 1884, as part of the process of considering applications for leases or agreements for mining on privately owned land.Information about each survey was recorded in two separate parts of each register. The first part is the register of surveys. Information recorded about each survey including the lease/licence application number, application details, the date of Mining Warden's instruction to the Mining Surveyor, date survey conducted and plan forwarded to the Warden, survey fees charged, the locality of the piece of land and a reference to the page number later in the some volume which contains a copy of the survey plan. There is also a reference to a surveyors' field book.The second part of the register contains the copies of the survey plans arranged usually in the order they are found in the Register.Sometimes Mining Wardens may have created registers which recorded only the register information or just the copies of the plans. In such instances, the omitted part will usually be found in either the previous or next volume in the series.It also appears that the Mining Surveyor also created a separate register of surveys.