VPRS 15586 Reports of Land Sales by Auction, Hamilton District

After an auction sale of Crown lands a number of copies of reports were prepared including these kept by the local Land Officer responsible for conducting sales in a particular geographic area. Across a double folio was written the place and date of the sale, by whom it was conducted and, from 1860, the sale number. In some volumes, copies of the advertising sheet for the sale may have been included. Details given were the lot, the location and area of the land, the areas sold and unsold and, if the latter, the reason which was most often because the lot was withdrawn or no offer was made. The amounts of the upset price (the minimum acceptable) and the valuation were given with the price per acre at which the lot was sold. The name and address of the purchaser were given with the amounts of the deposit and the balance and the date upon which the balance was paid. In later Report Books some of these details may change and may include the numbers of the relevant plan and any relevant correspondence. Details of the value ascribed to improvements made by a lessee or licensee may also be included. Some Report Books may also include details of Closer Settlement and other lands able to be sold by tender or by private treaty.Report Books, particularly those for the twentieth century may cover very extensive geographic areas. Those for adjacent areas may overlap in the locations of sales. As well, sales of land at small places may have taken place at a central, larger location.Land Sales were conducted in Victoria in accordance with the directions specified by various Land Acts and Regulations. From the 1842 Statute at Large (Vol. XXXIV), the Waste Lands Act, through to the Land Act 1869 (Act No. 360), Land Sale by Public Auction was the primary method of land alienation within the Colony of Victoria (or the Port Phillip District, as it was previously known). Lands were initially divided into three districts and classes. These districts were settled districts, intermediate districts and unsettled districts. First and second class lands were primarily located within the settled and intermediate districts, whilst third class lands tended to be within the unsettled districts.The Colonial Government wanted to encourage settlers to occupy and work the land in the unsettled districts, and it was argued that Land Sales by Public Auction were not achieving this goal. A series of Land Acts, beginning with the 1860 Land Act (Act No. 117), followed in order to encourage people to settle and work the land in unsettled districts. Auctions of Crown Land continued to occur after the 1869 Land Act, although at a much slower rate, and legislation governing Auctions has continued to be incorporated in Victorian Land Acts.The responsibility for Land Sales was handled by the Chief Clerk as head of the Land Sales and Selection Branch until the restructuring of the Department of Crown Land and Survey created the Occupation Branch in the 1870's. This restructuring included the division of Victoria into a number of Lands Districts. Each Land District had a local Land Office, as well as a centralised Land Office located within the Melbourne Office. Each centralised Land Office consisted of a desk with a clerk and a draughtsman dedicated to a particular Lands District. The local Land Office and the centralised Land Office communicated with each other regularly in order to ensure that the details regarding the alienation of land were accurate and to ensure accountability and consistency. This meant that two Land Sales registers were compiled of Land Sales for any specific area, one by the local Land Office and one by the centralised Land Office. Keeping two registers was a measure intended to ensure the integrity of the records created by Lands Office by making intentional fraud more difficult for an individual to achieve, and so that the amount paid for lands could be checked to ensure that the correct amount had been recorded.Land Sales of Crown Land were important means of obtaining revenue for the Government during the first few decades of the Colony. The 1842 Waste Land Act specified that the revenue raised through Land Sales would go towards immigration schemes to encourage prospective settlers. The Chief Clerk prepared schedules containing the details of available lands based on reports from the local officers and district surveyors, and communications with the Surveyor General and others within the Department. Information in the Schedules included descriptions of the land, their situation, and their quality. These schedules went before the Board of Land and Works for consideration until the 1869 Land Act increased demand for land to such a degree that this was no longer possible.The Land Sales process followed depended on the type of land being sold - that is, whether they were town lands, auriferous (i.e gold bearing) lands, or country lands. This process would begin with an application for a specific section of land, detailing the allotment, section, and description of the land desired (see VPRS 1258 Inward Correspondence). For Town Lots, a person would come into the Melbourne Office and fill in an application form. Those seeking auriferous lands would make an application to the district surveyor. People wanting country lands would send in a letter containing the information needed for the application, or use an agent. Applications would be registered, and sent to the district surveyor to check for possible objections to the particular land specified being available for sale. If there were no objections recorded by the district surveyor, a schedule containing descriptions of the land available for sale would be drawn up. For auriferous and country lands, the district surveyor's schedule would include valuations for improvements, such as boundary fences, and upset prices (see VPRS 919 Certificate of Valuation of Improvements (Crown Land). The price of the land would need to include the value of the improvements so that those who constructed the improvements could be properly compensated for their investment. Once schedules containing auriferous lands were received by the Melbourne Office, plans of the land included in the schedule would be drafted, coloured off, and sent to the Mines Department. If there was an objection to the sale of the land by the Mines Department, the land would be struck off the schedule. If there were no objections, the land would be included in the next land sale gazetted to be held in that district. The land would be placed in the schedule to be approved by the Minister for Lands, and this schedule would then be brought before the Governor-In-Council. If there was a prohibition against the sale of Country Lands in place, the sale could only proceed with special sanction by the Minister. A notice concerning the land would then be placed in the Government Gazette and various newspapers (see VPRS 11869 Notices of Land Sale by Public Auction). Between one to three months after the sale was gazetted, the land would be sold at the Auction Rooms. A deposit was to be paid at the Auction Rooms, with the remainder to be paid within a calendar month of the dale of saleOnce the land had been surveyed and designated as being available for Public Auction, a notice was posted in the Government Gazette. This occurred between one to three months before the date of a sale. The notice contained the Sale Number (a sequential number from 1860), details of the date, time and location of the sale, the location and description of the land to be sold, the lot it was to be sold in, the upset price, and the deposit required. Auctioneers prepared an Auctioneers Report for the Department of Crown Land and Survey (and the Board of Land and Works) to inform them of which land was sold, to whom, for what price and what deposit (see VPRS 80 Auctioneers Reports of Land Sales by Public Auction). This information was transferred to registers in both the Land Sales office and the office in the Land District where the land was located. Land sales held in specific districts were conducted by authorised officers of the Lands Department. Financial records tracked the transfer of monies owed until the sale was finalised.A report that all lands had been paid for was signed by the receiver of monies and paymaster of the Department of Lands. The Treasurer and Under-Treasurer signed a report that they had received the money. The printed reports or sale books were then sent to the Deeds Branch in order for the Deeds to be prepared. The details would be recorded in a register at the Deeds Branch, and then the sale information would be passed to the Surveyor General's Branch in order to obtain the technical description of the lands before the information was returned to the Deeds Branch. The engrossment would be finalised, the information examined and checked, and then the sale information would be passed to the Chief Draughtsman's branch so that plans could be drawn in the margin of the Grant and the Deed. These were passed back to the Deeds Branch to record that the deed was ready for final issue, before being sent to the Receipt and Pay Office in Melbourne for delivery. The Grant and Deed were signed by the Governor and sent to the Registrar of Titles. The Registrar registered and delivered the Grant to the Grantee, and retained the Deed for safe keeping.Summary details of all sales by auction may be found in VPRS 11862 Reports of Land Sales by Public Auction. Details of the Crown Grants issued may be found in the Registers of Crown Grants. Refer to:VPRS 11868 - for the period 1837 to 1851VPRS 11866 - for the years 1851 to 1858VPRS 11865 - for the period 1859 to 1988, andVPRS 11864 for Crown Grants issued between 1988 and 1991.This series was previously registered as Unit 2 of VPRS 445 / P Land Sales Registers.

王室土地（Crown lands）拍卖会后，会编制多份拍卖报告副本，其中包括由负责特定地理区域拍卖事宜的当地土地官员留存的副本。对开页（double folio）上会记录拍卖地点、日期、主持方，自1860年起还会标注拍卖编号。部分卷宗中可能附带有该次拍卖的广告单副本。

记录的信息包括地块编号、土地位置与面积、已售与未售地块情况，若为未售地块，通常会标注原因——多为地块被撤回或无人出价。同时会记录底价（upset price，即最低可接受售价）与估值金额，以及该地块的每英亩成交价。还会记录买受人的姓名与地址、定金与余款金额，以及余款支付日期。在后期的报告册中，部分信息可能有所调整，还可能包含相关规划图编号及相关往来函件。此外，还可能收录承租人或被许可人对土地改良所做估值的相关细节。部分报告册中还可能包含密集定居（Closer Settlement）土地及其他可通过招标或私人协议（private treaty）出售的土地的相关信息。

报告册，尤其是20世纪的报告册，可能覆盖范围极广的地理区域，相邻区域的拍卖记录可能存在销售地点重叠的情况。此外，小型地点的土地拍卖有时会在中心大型城镇举办。

维多利亚州的土地拍卖均依据各类土地法案与规章的要求开展。自1842年《成文法大全》（Statute at Large）第34卷所载的《荒地法案》（Waste Lands Act），直至1869年《土地法案》（第360号法案），公开拍卖王室土地始终是维多利亚殖民地（前身为菲利普港地区）土地转让（Land Alienation）的主要方式。土地最初被划分为三个区域与三个等级：定居区、过渡区与未开发区。一、二级土地主要位于定居区与过渡区内，而三级土地则多分布于未开发区。

殖民政府希望鼓励定居者进驻并开发未开发区，而当时的公开拍卖土地方式被认为未能达成这一目标。因此自1860年《土地法案》（第117号法案）起，陆续出台了一系列土地法案，以鼓励民众进驻并开发未开发区。1869年《土地法案》颁布后，王室土地拍卖仍在继续，但规模大幅缩减，且有关拍卖的立法持续被纳入维多利亚州的土地法案体系中。

在19世纪70年代王室土地与测量部重组并设立占用分支（Occupation Branch）前，土地销售与甄选部门的负责人——首席文员（Chief Clerk）负责统筹土地销售相关事宜。此次重组将维多利亚州划分为多个土地区域，每个土地区域均设有当地土地办事处，以及设于墨尔本办事处的中央土地办事处。每个中央土地办事处均配备一名文员与一名绘图员，专门负责对应土地区域的相关工作。当地与中央土地办事处会定期沟通，以确保土地转让记录准确无误，并保障记录的问责性与一致性。这意味着，任一特定区域的土地销售会被编制两份登记册：一份由当地土地办事处编制，另一份由中央土地办事处编制。双登记册机制旨在通过增加个体实施蓄意欺诈的难度，保障土地办事处所存记录的完整性，同时便于核查土地价款的缴纳情况，确保入账金额准确无误。

在殖民地建立初期的数十年间，王室土地拍卖是政府重要的财政收入来源。1842年《荒地法案》规定，土地拍卖所得收入将用于移民计划，以吸引潜在定居者。首席文员会根据当地官员与区域测量员提交的报告，以及与测量总署及部门内其他人员的沟通情况，编制包含可售土地详情的明细表。明细表中的信息包括土地描述、位置与质量。此类明细表需提交土地与工程委员会审议，直至1869年《土地法案》出台后，土地需求大幅增长，该流程不再可行。

土地销售的具体流程取决于待售土地的类型，即城镇用地、产金（auriferous，含金）用地或乡村用地。流程始于特定地块的申请，申请人需详细说明所需土地的分配编号、区域与描述（参见VPRS 1258 内部往来函件）。若申请城镇地块，申请人需前往墨尔本办事处填写申请表；若申请产金用地，申请人需向区域测量员提交申请；若申请乡村用地，申请人可通过寄送包含申请所需信息的信件，或委托代理人办理。申请会被登记，并送交区域测量员，以核查是否存在针对该待售地块的异议。若区域测量员未提出异议，则会编制包含可售土地详情的明细表。对于产金用地与乡村用地，区域测量员编制的明细表需包含土地改良（如边界围栏）的估值及底价（upset price，参见VPRS 919 王室土地改良估值证明书）。土地价款需包含改良部分的价值，以确保进行土地改良的投资者能够获得合理补偿。墨尔本办事处收到产金用地明细表后，会绘制明细表中涉及土地的规划图，进行着色标注后送交矿业部门。若矿业部门对该土地出售提出异议，则会将该地块从明细表中移除；若无异议，则该地块将被纳入下一期在该区域发布的土地拍卖公告。待售土地明细表需提交土地部长审批，随后提交总督会同行政会议审议。若当时存在乡村用地禁售令，则需获得土地部长的特别许可方可进行拍卖。随后，相关土地的拍卖通知会刊登于《政府公报》与各类报纸（参见VPRS 11869 公开拍卖土地销售通知）。拍卖公告发布后的1至3个月内，土地将在拍卖厅进行拍卖。竞买人需在拍卖厅支付定金，余款需在拍卖当日起的一个日历月内付清。

在土地完成测量并被列为公开拍卖标的后，拍卖通知会刊登于《政府公报》，时间通常为拍卖日期前1至3个月。通知内容包括拍卖编号（自1860年起为连续编号）、拍卖日期、时间与地点、待售土地的位置与描述、所属地块编号、底价及所需定金金额。拍卖师会为王室土地与测量部（及土地与工程委员会）编制拍卖师报告，告知部门哪些土地已售出、买受人信息、成交价及定金情况（参见VPRS 80 公开拍卖土地销售拍卖师报告）。该信息会被转录入土地销售办事处及土地所在区域办事处的登记册中。特定区域的土地拍卖由土地部（Lands Department）的授权官员主持。财务记录会追踪应缴款项的流转情况，直至交易最终完成。

所有土地价款均已缴清的报告需由土地部收款员与出纳员签署。财政部长与国库副部长按规定签署已收款确认报告。随后，印刷版报告或拍卖册会被送交契据分支，以准备土地契据。相关细节会被记录在契据分支的登记册中，随后拍卖信息会被送交测量总署分支，以获取土地的技术描述，之后再返还给契据分支。契据的誊写工作完成后，相关信息会经过审核与核查，随后送交首席绘图员分支，以便在土地授予书与契据的空白处绘制规划图。这些文件会被送回契据分支，记录契据已准备就绪可最终签发，随后送交墨尔本的收款与支付办公室完成交付。土地授予书与契据由总督签署后，送交产权登记员。产权登记员会对授予书进行登记并交付给受让人，同时留存契据妥善保管。

所有公开拍卖土地销售的汇总详情可在VPRS 11862 公开拍卖土地销售报告中查阅。王室土地授予书的相关详情可在王室土地授予登记册中查询，具体如下：
- VPRS 11868：对应1837年至1851年期间
- VPRS 11866：对应1851年至1858年期间
- VPRS 11865：对应1859年至1988年期间
- VPRS 11864：对应1988年至1991年期间发行的王室土地授予书
该档案系列原登记编号为VPRS 445 / P 土地销售登记册第2单元。