The Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW) (or Robertson Land Acts) were introduced by the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

, John Robertson, in 1861 to reform land holdings in New South Wales and in particular to break the Squattocracy's domination of

land tenure In common law systems, land tenure, from the French verb "tenir" means "to hold", is the legal regime in which land owned by an individual is possessed by someone else who is said to "hold" the land, based on an agreement between both individual ...

. The Acts allowed free selection of

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

and made redundant the limits of location, which limited sale of land to the

Nineteen Counties The Nineteen Counties were the limits of location in the colony of New South Wales, Australia. Settlers were permitted to take up land only within the counties due to the dangers in the wilderness. They were defined by the Governor of New Sout ...

which had applied since 1826.

The Acts

Under the reforms unsurveyed land in an area which had been declared an agricultural reserve in designated unsettled areas could be selected and bought

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England * Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...

in lots of crown land, wherever situated at £1 per acre (£2 9s 5d/ha), on a deposit of five

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence ...

s per acre (12s 4d/ha), the balance to be paid within three years, an interest-free loan of three-quarters of the price. Alternatively at the end of the three years, the balance could be treated as an indefinite loan, as long as 5% interest was paid each year. The Crown Lands Acts consisted of two separate acts: The Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1861 No 26a and the Crown Lands Occupation Act of 1861 No 27a These acts were amended in 1875 and 1880. The Robertson acts were replaced completely by new legislation with effect from the beginning of 1885. Selectors were required to live on their land for three years and to make improvements worth £1 per acre. Speculation was to be prevented by requiring actual residence on the land. In return pastoralists were protected by granting them, at the conclusion of their present leases, annual leases in the settled districts and five yearly leases elsewhere, with a maximum area or carrying capacity, and an increase in rent by appraisement of the runs. The pastoralist retained the pre-emptive right to buy one twenty-fifth of his lease in addition to improved areas, and also possessed the pre-lease to three times the area of the freehold. In addition they were to continue to possess the right to request the survey and auctioning of large parcels of their lease. This meant that they could bid at short notice for such land while other potential bidders were unaware that the land was on the market. The work of

Alexander Grant McLean Alexander Grant McLean (1824 – 28 September 1862) was a Surveyor General of New South Wales, (then a colony, now a state of Australia). Early life McLean was born in Scotland, the second son of Captain John Leyburn Maclean, principal superint ...

Surveyor General of New South Wales The Surveyor-General of New South Wales is the primary government authority responsible for land and mining surveying in New South Wales. The original duties for the Surveyor General was to measure and determine land grants for settlers in New ...

facilitated the introduction of these Land Acts.

Consequences

Subsequently, there were struggles between squatters and selectors, and the laws were circumvented by corruption and the acquisition of land by various schemes, such as the commissioning of selections to be passed eventually to squatters and the selection of key land such as land with access to water by squatters to maintain the viability of their pastoral leases. The Land Acts accelerated the alienation of

that had been acquired under the principle of

terra nullius ''Terra nullius'' (, plural ''terrae nullius'') is a Latin expression meaning " nobody's land". It was a principle sometimes used in international law to justify claims that territory may be acquired by a state's occupation of it. : : ...

, and hence accelerated the dispossession of

indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

. The Land Acts paralleled the demands for similar legislation amending the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Preemption Act of 1841, culminating in the

Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of t ...

of 1862, and was succeeded by similar legislation in other Australian colonies in the 1860s and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

's Dominion Lands Act of 1872.

References

{{Reflist 1861 in Australia New South Wales legislation 1861 in law 1861 in British law 1860s in New South Wales Crown land in Australia Squatting in Australia

The Acts

Consequences

See also

References