Basics on Land Tenure in NSW

Basics on land tenure in New South Wales

Grants
Limits of Location
Squatters
Systems of title
Further reading

The history of land tenure in NSW is a complex one. However, if your ancestor owned land or occupied crown land, then the chances are that a good paper trail exists. With a little patience and effort it is possible to trace the paper trail; in addition to the bare bones of a land transaction, in some cases it is possible to find genealogical information not recorded elsewhere.

Grants

Settlers and emancipists

NSW's first Governor, Arthur Phillip, was provided the power to grant land, but he used it sparingly, granting only 4,000 acres during his tenure of almost five years. Most such grants were small - up to 30 acres - and were made to free settlers and ex-convicts ("emancipists"). A married person could get an extra 20 acres, and having children allowed a further 10 acres. Grants were made only to those of good conduct, and applications were required to be made in writing to the Colonial Secretary and generally supported by local worthies. Such grants were free of charge until 1831, after which most grants were by purchase, the money raised intended to fund the immigration of labourers.

Military

The military were treated more generously from 1789, with privates allowed 50 acres more than the above rules, and NCOs 100 acres more. Officers were initially not permitted grants, the situation changing only in 1794, when Grose took over from Phillip.

Limits of Location

By 1820 much of the land within a radius of 200 miles of Sydney was occupied by farmers and graziers. In 1826 the extent to which unauthorised occupation of land was occurring caused Governor Darling to specify "limits of location" outside which land could not be occupied. In 1829 the "settled areas" were extended to embrace an area of Nineteen Counties, outside which the government would not sell or grant land, nor permit permanent settlement. "Tickets of occupation" were issued to graziers up to 1827, from which time a system of annual rental was introduced.

Squatters

Trespassing beyond the limits of location (or later nineteen counties) was not permitted, as the government was unable to either police an extended area, nor protect settlers from attacks by Aboriginal people. For its part, the government decided in 1833 that it would not seek to remove "squatters" who had established unauthorised stock stations in the interior. In part this was facing up to the difficulties of removing them; it was also a recognition of the increasing political influence and respectability of such people.

In 1836 the extent of such settlement caused the government to introduce "depasturing licences" for which an annual fee of £10 was payable. However, the basic problem remained - the tenure was from year to year, the occupier made improvements at his own risk, the land was unsurveyed and the boundaries of the "runs" the subject of negotiation with neighbours.

It was decided in 1839 to establish a "border police" to assist in controlling the situation between settlers and local Aboriginal people, with the cost funded by an annual charge of a penny per sheep depastured, threepence per head of cattle and sixpence per horse. The "unsettled" lands were divided into a number of squattage districts, each under the control of a Crown Land Commissioner. As pastoral expansion continued, the number and arrangement of the districts was changed, and the licensing arrangements too.

Systems of title

The original system of land title in NSW was based on British common law and proved cumbersome. In particular, good title to land depended on the validity of each step in the chain of title changes since the land was originally granted.

In 1863, therefore, it was decided to commence changing to "Torrens title", a system designed initially for South Australia, under which title was guaranteed by the Crown.