The lands administrative divisions of Western Australia refer to subdivisions of the state of Western Australia for cadastral (land title) purposes, most of which have been in place since the 19th century. The state is divided up for this purpose into five land divisions, which in turn are subdivided into land districts, which correspond to counties in other Australian states. These districts are then subdivided further into numbered locations, as well as gazetted townsites. Together, they form part of the lands administrative divisions of Australia.

Land divisions

There are five land divisions in Western Australia, as specified in Schedule 1 of the Land Administration Act 1997. * Eastern Land Division * Eucla Land Division *

Kimberley Land Division Kimberley Land Division is one of five land divisions of Western Australia recognised in the ''Land Administration Act 1997''. It occupies roughly the same area as the Kimberley region of the state. Location Schedule 1 of the Act, as with all o ...

* North West Land Division * South West Land Division The Rabbit-proof fence is the border between the North West and South West divisions on the western side, and the others on the eastern side. In practical terms, the divisions are rarely used — in 1897, the Under Secretary for Lands described their purpose as "really only for the purpose of classifying land for Pastoral Leases". The system of divisions developed as follows:

Land districts

The land district is the highest level of land division actively used in Western Australian land titles, and has been in use in some form since the earliest days of the

Swan River Colony The Swan River Colony, also known as the Swan River Settlement, or just Swan River, was a British colony established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. This initial settlement place on the Swan River was soon named Perth, and it ...

, although only achieved statutory recognition with the enactment of section 7 the Land Act 1898. They are recognised today through section 26 of the Land Administration Act 1997. Under the system in place, there are two methods of distributing titles within a district: one is to gazette a townsite from land within the district and henceforth treat it entirely separately from the district; the other is to create locations (almost always numeric) within districts, such as Windell Location 7 or Swan Location 1315, and then either dedicate the location as a reserve with reference to the Governor's powers under the 1997 Act, grant the location in

fee simple In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., perm ...

to an individual or company, or subdivide it into lots for sale or lease.

History

In 1831, instructions were issued from the Colonial Secretary in London for "the division of the whole of the territory of Western Australia into Counties, Hundreds and Parishes of fixed size". However, the system was all but abandoned within a few years, and district names were simply applied to areas without any effort to fix boundaries for them.Letter from Under Secretary for Lands, 12 February 1896, in ''Districts of the colony'' (169/96), p.2–3. Accessed at State Records Office, Perth. Areas within declared townsites were managed separately. At this time, the population of the colony was small, and the Governor had complete control over the affairs of the state, receiving advice from experts such as the

Surveyor General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor ge ...

, who was responsible for the Department of Lands and Surveys. In 1890, the colony achieved

responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...

, and in 1892–1893, gold was discovered in the

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

region, leading to a gold rush. In 1895–1896, the Department, by now quite overwhelmed, attempted to define boundaries for districts based on where land had already been granted, but the result was irregular boundaries which did not follow natural features. Furthermore, in assigning and alienating the land, the Department's officers were in somewhat uncharted territory due to the mix of pre-1890 regulations from the Governor with overly specific statutes from the legislature (such as the Homestead Act 1893 and Transfer of Land Act 1892) that they had to navigate. The Under Secretary for Lands noted in August 1896 that "there is no provision in any Act or Regulations for the declaration of land districts... it is only an office arrangement". The Surveyor General and his staff agitated for a "Consolidated Land Bill" which would consolidate then repeal all previous arrangements, provide a statutory framework which recognised existing practice, and establish a more formal method for establishing and recording land districts. New broad-acre settlements in areas of the colony not already covered by districts (most notably at Carnarvon and Esperance) made the matter more urgent. In the interim, the Department started two new files at the beginning of 1897 which ultimately recorded the correspondence between the Chief Draftsman, Surveyor General, Under Secretary for Lands and the responsible Minister in setting up a consistent means of generating and naming new land districts which would form the basis of a statutory system once one emerged, and 25 new districts had been approved by year's end. On 1 January 1899, the Land Act took effect, and the Department's new system became the norm, with the only change being that all new districts or changes to existing ones were printed in the Government Gazette. Until 1902, with only some exceptions, names used were usually those of explorers or early settlers, but in 1902, the Surveyor General rejected a suggested list of new names, advising the Chief Draftsman that "I should much prefer euphonious native names if they can be obtained for these proposed new districts, as I think we should lose no opportunity of perpetuating the nomenclature of a fast disappearing race, apart from which the liability of duplicating names is largely increased if the surnames of individuals are devoted to land districts." Between 1902 and 1906, a considerable rush to gazette new districts was promoted by the desire to impress land agents in London — the Minister noted that "it will not hurt the State to show as few blanks as possible". Prior to the construction of the Trans-Australian Railway, the Eastern Division, which consists almost entirely of the Great Victoria and Great Sandy Deserts, did not contain any districts.Western Australia. Dept. of Lands and Surveys (1913). "South western portion of Western Australia shewing land districts" (map), Government Lithographer, Perth.

List of land districts

The list below represents a complete list of land districts, together with the division of which they are part and the year where they came into being — either through granting of locations prior to 1896, delineation in Department files between 1896 and 1898, or gazettal from 1899 onwards.

Counties

Historically, there were 26 counties in the south-western part of the state, designated shortly after the

was founded in 1829. It was originally intended for these to be subdivided into hundreds and parishes in a manner similar to South Australia, but this did not occur, as the division/district system took precedence. * Beaufort County *

Carnarvon County Carnarvon County was one of the 26 counties of Western Australia The lands administrative divisions of Western Australia refer to subdivisions of the state of Western Australia for cadastral (land title) purposes, most of which have been in plac ...

* Durham County *

Glenelg County Glenelg County was one of the 26 counties of Western Australia that were designated in 1829 as cadastral divisions. It was named after Charles Grant, 1st Baron Glenelg, President of the Board of Trade and Treasurer of the Navy The Treasure ...

Goderich County Goderich County was one of the 26 counties of Western Australia that were designated in 1829 as cadastral divisions. It was named after F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the ...

* Grantham County * Grey County * Hay County * Howick County * Kent County * Lanark County * Lansdowne County *

Melbourne County Melbourne County was one of the 26 counties of Western Australia that were designated in 1829 as cadastral divisions. It was named after William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Chief Secretary for Ireland by Lieutenant-Governor James Stirling. I ...

Minto County Minto County was one of the 26 counties of Western Australia that were designated in 1829 as cadastral divisions. It approximately corresponds to parts of the Avon Land District and Williams Land District which form the basis for land titles in ...

* Murray County * Nelson County * Peel County * Plantagenet County * Perth County * Stirling County * Sussex County *

Twiss County Twiss County was one of the 26 counties of Western Australia that were designated in 1829 as cadastral divisions. It was named after Horace Twiss, Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1828 to 1830, a personal friend of Lieutenan ...

* Victoria County * Wellington County * Wicklow County * York County

Notes

External links

National Library of Australia, Cadastral MapsIndex map of Western Australia 1909 showing land districts and land divisions
{{Australian cadastral History of Western Australia Cadastral divisions Western Australia Cadastral divisions