Historic Land Grants

A series of articles published in The Critic newspaper by Alex Hume under the pen of "Historicus" during 1923 and 1924.

Early Settlement.

The New South Wales Government, have recently presented to the Government of this State the duplicates of the land grants issued by Governors King, Macquarie, and Brisbane, at Sydney. The grants issued by these Governors are not regarded by the legal profession as valid Crown grants, because they are issued in the name of the Governor, and not the Sovereign reigning over these dominions at the date of issue, but the possession of such a grant is regarded by the Lands Titles Commissioners as a valuable link in the chain of evidence which a claimant is required to supply in support of his claim for a Crown grant. The reader of notes must bear In mind that the authors of these land grants or rather the Secretary for State, in permitting the Governors to make these grants, had in mind a system of land nationalisation to a certain limited extent. This is apparent from the wording of the document, which provides for a quit rent being paid annually, and also reserves to the Crown 'the right to take timber from the grant, presumably for public purposes and also the right for taking land for roads, and a condition was also laid down that the grantee was bound to clothe and feed a certain limited number of convicts at his own expense, the number being governed by the extent of the area granted, thus a person obtaining a large grant had to maintain more prisoners than a person obtaining a smaller area. Another condition in most of the grants is one which prevented the grantee from transferring his grant for five years.

It is interesting to note that as the State came to be populated by free people, the Governor's duties became more and more difficult. It must be remembered that many of the prisoners who came out with Collins soon became free men, to at least a limited extent, and they had to have some shelter. In considering the history of land settlement and grants, it should always be remembered that the Imperial Government had a certain definite policy which began in Governor Sorell's reign, and extended to about 1831, when the then Secretary for State, Lord Ripon, issued a decree that the Governors were to cease issuing free land grants, The Governors between those dates were instructed to issue free grants to settlers, the areas to be in accordance with their means. Many of the British public know a good thing when they either hear of it or see it, and when the fact became known that there was free land to be had for the asking in Australia, the Governors were given plenty to do, the Secretary of State and his officials knew little or nothing of the physical conditions of Van Diemen's Land, the instructions that were suitable to New South Wales were quite unsuitable to this State, but millions of acres were given away before this fact was universally known to the English statesmen in power. Thus, the later generations of politicians in this State have always had a great, and never ending controversy in settling, to what extent the descendants of the free grantee should contribute to the taxation of the country, it being always remembered that very early after responsible Government was granted the condition of paying a quit rent was entirely remitted in favour of the land owner. 1
(To be continued.)

Further Resources
Libraries Tasmania - Land Grants

Source References