Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1952-04-01 - 1970-08-28 (Creation)
- 1952-04-01 - 1970-08-28 (Accumulation)
Level of description
Medium
Format
Status
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Department of Lands and Surveys was one of the oldest government agencies in Western Australia, having been constituted under the name of the Survey Office in 1829. The Office became the Surveyor-General's Department in 1870 and was organized into two branches - Crown Lands and Surveys. The Department was administered by the Surveyor-General who also held the title of Commissioner of Crown Lands.
The Department was restyled the Crown Lands and Surveys Department in 1873 and, in 1890, the Department of Land and Surveys.
The Department of Lands and Surveys was responsible for the leasing and alienation of Crown Lands (except where mining and forestry tenures were involved*), the reservation of land for public purposes and roads, the surveying and classifying of land, and the exploration and mapping of the State. From its inception, the Department was also active in promoting immigration and settlement, and until 1973 was responsible for administering various Assisted Passage Immigration Schemes.
Immigration remained one of the functions of the Department until 1986, and the Department was responsible for the administration of the Noalimba Reception Centre.
Following a functional review, the Department was reorganized and renamed the Department of Land Administration in 1986.
- Initially, the Department was responsible for virtually all aspects of land administration, but with the establishment of the Department of Mines (1893) and the Forests Department (1919), it relinquished control of mining and forestry matters.
Repository
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This series consists of (Old) 4 Chain Cancelled Public Plans of selected parts of the Perth metropolitan region, 1952 - 1970. The scale is 4 chains to one inch and the plans are based on the Bonne Modified Conical Projection.
In 1952, Public Plans of selected areas of the Perth region began to be drawn on the sheets of the published 4 Chain cadastral series. This series of maps was the last to be constructed on the Bonne Modified Conical Projection of the Original State Series. In the parlance of surveyors and map makers, the series has often been referred to as the "Old 4 Chain Series" in order to distinguish it from the 4 Chain cadastral plans constructed on the Transverse Mercator Projection.
Before 1952, Public Plans of the area covered by these maps were drawn on the 20 Chain maps (see Record Series No. 4268) or on some townsite and suburban maps (see Record Series No. 2168).
The phasing out of the use of the 4 Chain plans began in 1966. By 1970, they had all been cancelled to and continued on the Transverse Mercator Projection, Australian National Grid, new 4 Chain plans.
The sheets are hand coloured and annotated on lithographic bases (app. 63cm x 94cm).
The plans in this series are held at the State Records Office at consignment 5697.