The miner's licence was the colonial government's response to the need to provide infrastructure including policing during the

Australian gold rushes During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of Ne ...

. The first Australian mining laws were enacted in 1851. A proclamation by Governor La Trobe, of New South Wales, on 22 May 1851 asserted the Crown's right to all gold discovered in New South Wales. Governor Fitzroy invoked the "

Case of Mines The Case of Mines or ''R v Earl of Northumberland'' was decided in 1568. Rather than the usual four judges, a full panel of twelve common law senior judges, on appeal, decided “that by the law all mines of gold and silver within the realm, whe ...

" (''R v Earl of Northumberland'') of 1567, which confirmed the Crown's prerogative right to all gold and silver found in the Crown's realm. Victoria separated from New South Wales on 1 July 1851, and the Victorian Lieutenant-Governor

Charles La Trobe Charles la Trobe, CB (20 March 18014 December 1875), commonly Latrobe, was appointed in 1839 superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales and, after the establishment in 1851 of the colony of Victoria (now a state of Austra ...

issued a similar proclamation on 16 August 1851.Mining Law of Western Australia, by Michael W Hunt. . p. 1. In January 1852, Victoria enacted the Mining Act 1852 (repealed) supplemented by the Mining Act 1853 (repealed). Before that, ownership of minerals and petroleum passed to those who were granted title to land by the colonial governors according to common law concepts, except the right to "Royal Mines" (the precious metals of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

) which remained vested in

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

by virtue of royal prerogative.

References

{{Reflist Australian gold rushes Australian property law Legal history of Australia Licenses History of mining in Australia Mining law and governance