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{{Use Australian English|date=June 2018}}
The '''Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW)''' were introduced by the [[New South Wales]] [[Premiers of New South Wales|Premier]], [[John Robertson (New South Wales Premier)|John Robertson]], in 1861 to reform land holdings in New South Wales and in particular to break the [[Squatting (pastoral)|squatters']] domination of [[land tenure]]. The Acts allowed free selection of [[crown land]] and made redundant the limits of location, which limited sale of land to the [[Nineteen Counties]] which had applied since 1826.▼
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
▲The '''Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW)''' (or '''Robertson Land Acts''') were introduced by the [[New South Wales]] [[Premiers of New South Wales|Premier]], [[John Robertson (New South Wales Premier)|John Robertson]], in 1861 to reform land holdings in New South Wales and in particular to break the [[
==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 [[Fee simple|freehold]] in {{convert|40|to(-)|320|acre|adj=on}} lots of crown land, wherever situated at [[Pound sterling|£]]1 per acre (£2 9s 5d/ha), on a deposit of five [[shilling]]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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/claao1861n26270.pdf |title=Crown Lands Alienation Act of 1861 |access-date=28 August 2016 |date=18 October 1861 |publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]] |via=[[AustLII]]}}</ref> and the Crown Lands Occupation Act of 1861 No 27a<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/cloao1861n27287.pdf |title=Crown Lands Occupation Act of 1861 |access-date=28 August 2016 |date=18 October 1861 |publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]] |via=[[AustLII]]}}</ref> These acts were amended in 1875<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/acts/1875-20a.pdf |title=Lands Acts Amendment Act 1875 |date=10 August 1875 |publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]] |access-date=28 August 2016}}</ref> and 1880.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/acts/1880-15a.pdf |title=Lands Acts further Amendment Act 1880 |date=10 August 1875 |publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]] |access-date=28 August 2016}}</ref> The Robertson acts were replaced completely by new legislation with effect from the beginning of 1885.<ref>{{cite web |via=[[AustLII]] |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/clao1884n35180.pdf |access-date=28 August 2016 |title=Crown Lands Act of 1884 |publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]] |date=17 October 1884 }}</ref>
[[Selection (Australian history)|Selectors]] were required to live on their land for three years and to make improvements worth £1 per acre.<ref>Starr, Joan and Mike Nicholas, Pioneering New England, Rigby, Adelaide, 1978</ref> Speculation was to be prevented by requiring actual residence on the land.<ref>{{cite web▼
▲[[Selection (Australian history)|Selectors]] were required to live on their land for three years and to make improvements worth £1 per acre.<ref>Starr, Joan and Mike Nicholas, Pioneering New England, Rigby, Adelaide, 1978</ref> Speculation was to be prevented by requiring actual residence on the land.<ref>{{cite
| first=Bede
| last=Nairn
| year=1976
| title=Sir John Robertson (1816–1891)
| volume=6
| id2=robertson-sir-john-4490
|
|publisher=Unpublished BA thesis
|first=John
|last=Caldwell
|
|date=1958}}</ref> The work of [[Alexander Grant McLean]], [[Surveyor General of New South Wales]] facilitated the introduction of these Land Acts.<ref name=adb>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Davis |first=C. |year=1974 |id2=mclean-alexander-grant-4121 |title=McLean, Alexander Grant (1824–1862) |
==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 [[crown land]] that had been acquired under the principle of [[terra nullius]], and hence accelerated the dispossession of [[indigenous Australians]].<ref>{{cite web
| title =About the Crown Lands Acts 1861 (NSW)
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| work=Documenting a democracy
| url =http://foundingdocs.gov.au/item-sdid-80.html
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The Land Acts paralleled the demands for similar legislation amending the [[United States]] [[Preemption Act of 1841]], culminating in the [[Homestead Act]] of 1862, and was succeeded by similar legislation in other Australian colonies in the 1860s and [[Canada]]'s [[Dominion Lands Act]] of 1872.
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[[Category:1861 in Australia]]
[[Category:New South Wales legislation]]
[[Category:1861 in law]]
[[Category:1861 in British law]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Crown land in Australia]]
[[Category:Squatting in Australia]]
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