VPRS 13609 Register of Deeds, Nathalia

Under the Land Acts and the Mines Act, formal documents relating to Crown grants, leases and licenses needed to be forwarded, in an accountable fashion, from the main office of the Department of Crown Lands and Survey or the Mines Department in Melbourne to individuals throughout Victoria. For this task, as for the collection of payments such as rents, the services of local Receivers of Revenue and Paymasters were used. Often the local Clerk of Courts performed this function. In larger places such as Bendigo, Sub-Treasury Offices might be used.Originally the Registers of Deeds were maintained by the Receiver and Paymaster, Colonial Treasury. Once Deeds of Grant were signed by the Governor, they were conveyed to the Colonial Secretary and then to the Treasurer for delivery upon payment of the established fees. The Receiver and Paymaster was responsible for entering the relevant particulars in the registers, issuing the deeds to the owners or their accredited representative after the payment of fees and obtaining signatures on the registers in acknowledgment of the receipt of deeds. When Sub-Treasuries were established in non-metropolitan areas, the Receiver and Paymaster, Colonial Treasury was able to send deeds for local residents to the local Receiver and Paymaster for delivery. Later, deeds went directly to local Receipt and Pay OfficesThe Register of Deeds was used by the Receiver and Paymaster to record the documents handled and their transmission to the owner. For the Department of Crown Lands and Survey (VA 538), once licenses for the occupation of Crown Lands were approved by the Board of Land and Works (VA 774) or leases and Crown grants approved by the Governor-in Council details were forwarded to the Deeds Branch within the Department for the preparation and execution of documentation. Many, if not most, related to matters in areas away from Melbourne.The deeds were forwarded, with a covering circular and after advertisement in the Government Gazette, to the local Receiver and Paymaster for transmission to the licensee or lessee or grantee. The Receiver, once the deed was delivered was to return the circular to the Department notifying it of that delivery. The intended recipient was informed by a standard letter or card that the deed was available for collection from a specific official at a nominated place. In the original list of Land Districts and parishes, a Receiver of Revenue was nominated for each parish in the Land District. Some locations could be nominated for parishes in a number of Land Districts. Nathalia was a Receipt and Pay Office for the Benalla Land District.Details given in the Register of Deeds are the number of the deed, the allotment and section of the land, the town or parish, the extent of the land, the name of the person receiving the deed, the date of the deed, the dates of its receipt and issue and a signature of acknowledgment of its receipt by the owner. Registers may also have filed in them correspondence from recipients requesting and giving authority for deed to be forwarded to solicitors or banks or to be handed to someone other than the person named on them.Other documents dealt with in the same register included Certificates of Naturalization, Licenses for the occupation of Unused Roads and Water Frontages (administered by VA 669 Department of Public Works) and Eucalyptus Licenses. Further details regarding Unused Roads and Water Frontages may be found in such series as VPRS 10542 Rent Rolls Unused Roads and Water Frontages and VPRS 4683 Regional Rent Rolls, Unused Roads and Water Frontages.VPRS 13609 / P1 was previously registered as Unit 130 of VPRS 406 / P Register of Deeds.

根据《土地法》（Land Acts）与《矿业法》（Mines Act）规定，需以可问责的方式，将与王室授予（Crown grants）、租赁（leases）及许可（licenses）相关的正式文件，从墨尔本的王室土地与测量部（Department of Crown Lands and Survey）或矿业部（Mines Department），转发至维多利亚州（Victoria）各地的相关人员。
如租金收缴等工作一样，此项任务需借助本地税收收件人与出纳员（Receivers of Revenue and Paymasters）的服务，该职务常由本地法院书记员（Clerk of Courts）兼任。在本迪戈（Bendigo）等较大地区，则可使用国库分局（Sub-Treasury Offices）。
早期，契约登记簿（Registers of Deeds）由殖民国库（Colonial Treasury）的税收收件人与出纳员负责维护。王室授予契约经总督（Governor）签署后，需先送交殖民大臣（Colonial Secretary），再转交财政大臣（Treasurer），待缴纳规定规费后方可交付。税收收件人与出纳员负责将相关信息录入登记簿，在受让人或其授权代表（accredited representative）缴纳规费后，将契约交付予其，并在登记簿上留存签收（acknowledgment of receipt）记录。当非都会区（non-metropolitan areas）设立国库分局后，殖民国库的税收收件人与出纳员可将本地居民所需的契约送交当地税收收件人与出纳员，由其代为交付。后续，契约可直接送交本地收付办事处（Receipt and Pay Offices）。
契约登记簿由税收收件人与出纳员用于记录所处理的文件及其交付给所有人的流程。对于王室土地与测量部（VA 538）而言，若王室土地占用许可经土地与工程委员会（Board of Land and Works，VA 774）批准，或租赁、王室土地授予经枢密院总督（Governor-in Council）批准，则相关细节将送交该部内部的契约科（Deeds Branch），以准备并出具相关文件。其中多数甚至全部事项涉及墨尔本以外地区。
契约需随附附函（covering circular），并在《政府公报》（Government Gazette）刊登公告后，送交本地税收收件人与出纳员，再由其转交给被许可人（licensee）、承租人（lessee）或受让人（grantee）。契约交付后，收件人需将附函退回相关部门，以告知交付完成。意向收件人将收到标准信件或卡片，通知其可前往指定地点的指定官员处领取契约。
在最初的土地区（Land Districts）与教区（parishes）名录中，每个土地区下的每个教区均指定了一名税收收件人。部分地点可同时为多个土地区下的教区服务，例如纳塔利亚（Nathalia）即为本纳拉土地区（Benalla Land District）的收付办事处。
契约登记簿中记录的信息包括：契约编号、土地的地块（allotment）与区段（section）信息、城镇或教区名称、土地面积（extent of the land）、契约持有人姓名、契约签署日期、契约接收与出具日期，以及所有人的签收签名。登记簿中还可能留存收件人的相关往来函件，包括请求并授权将契约送交律师、银行，或交由登记姓名以外的其他人领取的函件。
同一登记簿中处理的其他文件还包括入籍证书（Certificates of Naturalization）、闲置道路与滨水区占用许可（Licenses for the occupation of Unused Roads and Water Frontages，由公共工程部VA 669管理）以及桉树采伐许可（Eucalyptus Licenses）。关于闲置道路与滨水区的更多详细信息，可在VPRS 10542《闲置道路与滨水区租金名册》、VPRS 4683《区域闲置道路与滨水区租金名册》等档案系列中查询。
VPRS 13609 / P1原登记为VPRS 406 / P《契约登记簿》的第130单元。