Duffy Land Act
Charles Gavan Duffy
In November 1861 Charles Duffy was in charge of the Victorian
lands department. He succeeded in passing a new land act, which aimed to provide
settlers with good land at a low price. The act was a failure because its intentions
were evaded by dummying and other methods, but Duffy always claimed that the amendments
of subsequent parliaments preserved the essential intentions of the act.
Dummying was the practice of buying tracts of
land under false or family names in order to obtain large tracts of land.
Peacocking was the practice of selecting the very
best tracts of land only, such as areas with water access, and leaving the poorer,
surrounding areas for others.
At this time the landowners also owned the water frontages,
and could dam off creeks, leaving landowners downstream with no water. Not until
1884 did the government take control and own the waterways.
Duffy's Act 1862.
In 1862 free selection before survey was introduced by
Duffy's Act, which provided for the setting apart of large agricultural areas, within
which land could be selected at a uniform price of £1 per acre.
Alternative conditions were imposed to the effect that
certain improvements should be made, or that part of the land should be placed in
cultivation, and modifications were introduced as to the mode of payment.
The Land and Pastoral Acts
1869. The system of free selection before survey, as
applied to all unoccupied Crown lands, was retained, but the selected area was limited
to 320 acres, and was at the outset to be held under license for a term of three
years, during the first two and a-half years of which the selector had to reside
on the land, fence it, and cultivate a certain proportion of it. At the end of the
period of license the selector could either purchase the land outright or he might
obtain a further lease of seven years, with the right to purchase at any time during
the term.
SOURCES:
http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/peopleparliament/qt_landacts.asp
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/88fd067140fc3f4dca2569e300102388?OpenDocument
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