VPRS 1013 Licenses Issued under Section 42, Amending Land Act 1865

This series consists of licenses to occupy land in auriferous (ie gold-bearing) areas near Maryborough and Talbot issued under Section 42 of the Amending Land Act 1865. Each license has the details of the name and address of the holder, the amount, place and date of payment of the fee, the conditions attached to such a license to occupy land and the details of the size and location of the land with a scale plan. A number of holders held multiple licenses as allowed under the terms of the Act. Markings on the license include details of renewals and transfers to others and some contain Board of Land and Works seals. Numbers on the licenses are those allocated in the Registers of Applications for Section 42, Amending Land Act 1865.Section 42 of the Amending Land Act 1865 was designed to allow the use of lands on or adjacent to the goldfields to the advantage of the general population without interfering with the operations of miners. Occupation, at a modest rental, was to be temporary and for the purposes of residence and cultivation. Each licence was to cover a maximum of twenty acres for no more than one year although persons could apply for multiple licences. Rental, to be paid to Receivers of Revenue or Paymasters, was fixed at the rate of two pounds ten shillings per annum for less than 10 acres and at four pounds per annum for an area of between 10 and 20 acres. License holders were required to make identifiable improvements by enclosing their allotments and cultivating a prescribed proportion of the area.As this land had already been surveyed for mining purposes to determine the extent of the auriferous lands, applications could be ruled upon efficiently and expeditiously. An application under this section of the Act was able to be submitted to either the Department of Crown Lands and Survey in Melbourne or at the District Land Office (see VRG 27). Some 36 land offices were established throughout the Colony to deal with applications received under this Act. The application would be registered in an Applications Register and allocated a number in order of receipt. Those applications for all districts received at Melbourne were then indexed by name of applicant and the allocated number. The application was then investigated and reported upon by a local commission.The functions of this Commission were to investigate and report upon every application, to protect the public and local interests and promote the advantageous occupation of land. Commissions included in their membership, the Surveyor-General, the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Survey, the Secretary for Mines, chairmen and members of Mining Boards and Shire Council. They were assisted by District Surveyors, other officers of the Department and Mining Surveyors who had made the surveys of the sites applied for. These Commissions or enquiries were made in district centres and other principal centres of population on and in the vicinity of the goldfields. The decision with respect to the application arrived at by the Commission was then entered in the Applications Register.With the granting of the application, application then had to be made to the Governor-in-Council, as prescribed in the Act, to grant a licence of occupation to the successful applicant. In the same way, cancellations or revocations of licences and transfers of licences had to be approved by the Governor-in-Council. Some of these records may be seen in VPRS 863 Orders in Council Regarding the Issue and Cancellation of Licences, Land Acts 1865 and 1869.Once this application had been granted by the Governor-in-Council, the licence was issued and an entry was made in the Licence Register. These registers were arranged firstly by district or group of contiguous districts and then in alphabetical sections according to family name of the licensee. The Licence Register provided a record of the number of the licence issued (different to the application number), the location and size of the land, the payment of rents and, in the remarks column, the subsequent history of that holding of land and of the licence to occupy it.At some point after the granting of the application a file was created upon which were placed the original application and other subsequent correspondence with respect to it. These files have also been allocated sequential numbers (see VPRS 624 Land Selection Files, Land Act 1865). The numbers on these files do not coincide with any other number allocated during the application or the licensing processes at either the District or central levels. It is hypothesized that there has been created at some point a register to these files and their numbers which is not (as at July 2002) in custody.In August 1868, additional regulations were made under Section 42 of the Amending Land Act of 1865. These regulations extended the distance from a goldfield within which selections might be made to thirty miles and authorised the issue of eight licences per person thus allowing each selector to obtain a maximum of 160 acres. Applications were able to be made once again at both District Offices and the Central Office. Records in custody show that these applications were kept separately in Applications Registers, although, once licences were granted, they were entered into the existing Licence Registers.From the Licence Registers, it is apparent that much of the land selected and occupied under Section 42 of the Amending Land Act 1865 was subsequently either purchased under Section 31 of the Land Act 1869 or converted to leases under section 19 of the Land Act 1869. Other selections were able to be purchased at public auction, whilst others remained under the occupation of licensees for a lengthy period of time with licences able to be transferred or bequeathed.

本系列档案为依据1865年《土地修正法案》(Amending Land Act 1865)第42条颁发的、位于马里伯勒(Maryborough)与塔尔伯特(Talbot)附近含金区域的土地占用许可证(occupation licence)。每份许可证均包含持证人姓名与地址、缴费金额、缴费地点与缴费日期、土地占用许可证附带的使用条件，以及标注比例尺的土地面积与位置详图。根据该法案条款，部分持证人可持有多张许可证。

许可证上的标注内容包括续期与转让记录，部分许可证还加盖有土地工程委员会(Board of Land and Works)的印章。许可证上的编号为1865年《土地修正法案》第42条申请登记簿(Registers of Applications)中分配的编号。

1865年《土地修正法案》第42条旨在允许在金矿场或其邻近区域使用土地，以惠及普通民众，同时不干扰矿工作业。该许可以适度租金提供临时占用权，仅可用于居住与耕作。每份许可证最多覆盖20英亩土地，有效期不超过1年，但持证人可申请多张许可证。租金需向税收专员(Receivers of Revenue)或出纳员(Paymasters)缴纳，面积不足10英亩的地块年租金为2英镑10先令，10至20英亩的地块年租金为4英镑。许可证持证人需对地块进行明确改良，包括圈定地块并按规定比例耕作该区域。

由于该土地已为确定含金区域范围进行过采矿勘测，相关申请可得到高效且迅速的审批。依据该法案条款提交的申请，可送交墨尔本的王室土地与测量局(Department of Crown Lands and Survey)，或送交地区土地办事处(District Land Office，详见VRG 27)。该殖民地范围内共设立约36个土地办事处，处理依据该法案提交的申请。申请将被登记至申请登记簿，并按接收顺序分配编号。在墨尔本收到的所有地区的申请，将按申请人姓名与分配编号编制索引。随后，当地委员会将对申请进行调查并出具报告。

该委员会的职能为：对每份申请进行调查并出具报告，保护公众与当地利益，推动土地的合理占用。委员会成员包括测量总监(Surveyor-General)、土地与测量助理专员(Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Survey)、矿业大臣(Secretary for Mines)、矿业委员会(Mining Boards)主席与成员，以及郡议会(Shire Council)代表。委员会由地区测量员(District Surveyors)、王室土地与测量局其他官员，以及已对申请地块进行过勘测的矿业测量员(Mining Surveyors)提供协助。此类委员会或问询会在金矿场及周边的地区中心与其他主要人口中心召开。委员会就申请作出的决定将被记入申请登记簿。

申请获批后，需依据法案规定向总督会同行政局(Governor-in-Council)提出申请，为成功申请人颁发土地占用许可证。同理，许可证的注销或撤销、许可证的转让，均需经总督会同行政局批准。部分此类记录可在VPRS 863《1865及1869年土地法案》项下许可证颁发与注销的枢密院令档案(Orders in Council Regarding the Issue and Cancellation of Licences, Land Acts 1865 and 1869)中查阅。

总督会同行政局批准申请后，将颁发许可证，并在许可证登记簿中进行登记。此类登记簿首先按地区或连片地区分组编排，随后按持证人姓氏的字母顺序划分章节。许可证登记簿记录了颁发的许可证编号(与申请编号不同)、土地位置与面积、租金缴纳情况，以及备注栏中记录的该地块持有情况与土地占用许可证的后续历史。

申请获批后的某个节点，会创建一份档案袋，存放原始申请及后续相关往来函件。此类档案亦分配有连续编号(详见VPRS 624《1865年土地法案》土地选择档案(Land Selection Files))。此类档案编号与地区或中央层面的申请或许可流程中分配的其他编号均不对应。据推测，曾针对此类档案及其编号编制过登记册，但截至2002年7月，该登记册并未被妥善保管。

1868年8月，依据1865年《土地修正法案》第42条制定了补充条例。该条例将可选择地块的金矿场周边距离扩展至30英里，并授权每人最多颁发8张许可证，使每位选地者最多可获得160英亩土地。申请人仍可同时向地区办事处与中央办事处提交申请。现存保管记录显示，此类申请被单独登记在申请登记簿中，但许可证获批后，相关信息将被记入现有许可证登记簿。

从许可证登记簿中可以看出，依据1865年《土地修正法案》第42条选定并占用的大部分土地，后续要么依据1869年《土地法案》第31条完成购买，要么依据1869年《土地法案》第19条转为租赁。其他选地可通过公开拍卖完成购买，另有部分地块由持证人长期占用，许可证可转让或遗赠。