Identity area
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Title
Date(s)
- 1888-12-01 - 1930-11-24 (Creation)
- 1888-12-01 - 1930-11-24 (Accumulation)
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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.
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Repository
Archival history
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This volume was predominantly used by the Department of Lands and Surveys to register applications for group settlement.
The volume records the application number, the date of application, the applicant's name, the acreage applied for, the district and location/lot number, a cross reference to the pertinent public plan on which the lot is situated (these 40 chain plans are also held by the State Records Office), a cross reference to Road Board advice, the date on which the departmental file was sent to the Deeds Branch for Group Settlement applications, the date the deed was issued and a cross reference to the relevant departmental file.
The volume records 1035 Group Settlement applications between the period 10/01/1930 and 24/11/1930.
The front of the volume also records applications made by the WA Land Company and the Midland Railway Company for land in the South West between the period December 1888 and August 1898. Such land is identified in the register by location numbers and were issues under the Hordern Contract and the Waddington Contract (Lands Department file 1890/0424 held by the State Records Office in consignment 1569 provides further background information on the Hordern Contract).