Guides

Cadastral Maps

Definitions

Cadastral
derives from the French cadastre and originally from the Greek Katastikhon and defines the extent, value and ownership of land for taxation purposes.

County
Originally meant the domain or territory of a count. Later came to mean an administrative unit with a County Council.

Parish [ie. Civil]
A division of a county, becoming a unit for local government. Forms a device for valuing and taxing land.

Hundred
Subdivision of a county thought to have been an area containing one hundred families.

Old System
English Common Law System of conveyancing which used a deed to establish proof of title or ownership to a parcel of land. No guarantee of ownership by the State as there was no statutory requirement to register deeds or plans of subdivision prior to 1961.

Torrens Title
Devised by Sir Robert Torrens, South Australia, this system of land title record was adopted by New South Wales on 1.1.1863. Ownership of land is evidenced by a single document (folio of the Register) upon which is recorded the legal description of the land, details of the owner and various transactions affecting the land, eg. mortgages, leases, easements, etc.

Background

Modern interpretation of the cadastre derives from the French model introduced by Napoleon in 1808. There has been considerable divergence amongst the European countries, including the British Isles, since then.

The cadastre includes the following elements:

The cadastral map has four main purposes:

In Australia, the first two functions have been of prime importance. Consequently the primary role of the State Lands Departments has been to provide a variety of large scale maps to meet their cadastre obligations.

The National Library derives its large and varied collection of cadastral maps from two main sources:

The varied and complex nature of cadastral mapping in Australia may best be described by addressing each State and Territory in turn.Unofficial occupancy of land, known as "squatting" is discussed separately at the end of the official state cadastral holdings.

New South Wales

County and Parish maps

In 1825 Governor Darling received instructions to arrange for a new Survey of the Colony and the division of the settled districts into Counties, Hundreds and parishes. The unoccupied lands were then to be valued and eventually sold by tender, if not otherwise reserved, at not less than the average value for the parish. Prior to this date grants had been issued to emancipists, free settlers and non-commissioned Marine officers.

By 1841 the State of New South Wales had been divided into the 141 counties now in existence. The Counties were subsequently divided into Parishes and together they form the basis of land administration in the State.

Parish maps are prepared by the Crown Lands Office from original plans of portions (or parcels of lands which when combined together comprise a Parish), roads, etc. and show the relationship of portion boundaries to such features as roads, rivers, railways and seashores. The portion's number and its area are shown but not the dimensions. The parish maps also show, in tabular form, the volume and folio references to Crown Grants issued from the commencement of the Real Property Act on the 1 January 1861 - 1 October 1891 and to "First Titles" issued since that date. The grantee's name and date of Crown Grants made prior to 1863 as well as portion plan catalogue numbers are also shown.

Note: Only the original grantee's name and title particulars are noted on the Parish Maps unless subsequent changes to the grant conditions are made. In the latter case a new edition of the cadastral map is issued with the new changes.

For the vast majority of the Western Division of New South Wales, separate parish maps have not been prepared and the county map remains as the base plan.

Cadastral town plans are also in the Library's collection and comprise surveys of proclaimed (ie. not private) towns. Land is subdivided into sections and allotments.

Various editions of the County and Parish maps exist in the collection, although there is not a full set of each edition of each Parish or County map. A list of the various editions of County and Parish maps, arranged by County is available in the Map Reading Room.

Since about 1990 hardcopy issue of these maps ceased as the Office digitised its cadastre base.

Recently, the Land & Property Information (LPI) Department have commenced a project to scan working copies of early editions of the parish, county and pastoral plans and make them available over the Internet. They may be accessed through their website at http://www.lpi.nsw.gov.au/maps/pmap/

In addition to the traditional County and Parish series, the LPI has also issued, between 1970 - 1990, topographic map series with cadastral information overlay. These series range from a scale of 1:25 000 for areas from the Pacific Ocean to around the Great Dividing Range, to 1:100 000 for the Western Division. These maps are not comprehensively charted but provide a relationship between cadastral boundaries and topographic/man made features.

For urban areas an orthophotomap series at a scale of 1:4 000 with cadastral overprint are held.

Other series include:

Ferguson Map Collections

Sir John Ferguson, well known for his publication Bibliography of Australia collected over 900 cadastral maps, including detailed plans of areas in Sydney and the Hunter Region of New South Wales. This collection, known as the Ferguson Rare Map Collection is housed in the Map Section of the National Library.

The collection has now been catalogued and is available through the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and the Library's online catalogue.

Sales plans

In addition to the Ferguson Rare Map Collection, the Map Section also maintains two large collections of real-estate sales plans collected by Sir John Ferguson. Both collections have been microfiched and guides to each collection have been prepared and are available.

Queensland

Queensland followed the same pattern as New South Wales and is divided up into Counties and Parishes. However, unlike the latter, actual owners of land, rather than the first grantees, were shown on the parish maps.

This pattern of land registration continued until around the turn of the century when it became impossible to maintain ownership changes on the maps. Acreage and types of lease are indicated with small portions referenced in separate tables.

From the 1930's a number of rectangular cadastral series at scales of 1:15 480 to 1:253 440, and smaller have also been issued, covering the whole state. Surveyed roads and railways, drainage pattern and major topographical features are shown as well as cultural features such as homesteads, dams, bores, wells and fencelines. Property names and occasionally owners are also shown.

The series were continued in metric scales ranging from 1:100 000 to 1:2 500 for urban areas. Since the completion of the digitised cadastre base (DCDB) these maps are being generated from the computer as changes are made and deposited with the Map Section.

Cadastral town plans of all proclaimed towns in the State are also held.

A small, variable, but significant collection of maps showing pastoral runs is also available. These maps include:

Victoria

Like Queensland, Victoria followed the pattern of New South Wales and was divided into counties and parishes.

The following details are recorded on parish plans:

Both paper copies and microfiche copies of the parish and county maps are held in the collection.

A complete collection, on microfiche, of the Victorian Lands Department's early cadastral mapping is held and includes detailed maps of the squatting runs, goldfields, coastal surveys, pre-emptive reserves, and early surveys of Bendigo, Melbourne, Wimmera and the Loddon River regions.

Town cadastral maps of proclaimed towns are also held, both in paper and microfiche formats.

South Australia

Following initial settlement in 1838 in South Australia the first nine counties around Adelaide were proclaimed by 1842. A total of forty nine counties were determined, occupying the south-east corner and part of the Flinders Peninsula. In 1861 the subdivision of the Hundred rather than the Parish, used in the eastern states, was introduced and was taken to refer to a division containing approximately 100 square miles, one third more or one third less. 526 Hundreds were eventually proclaimed.

Outside the settled areas the pastoral areas were covered by a series of Pastoral plans at a scale of 1:253 440 and 1:506 880.

Town cadastral plans were also compiled and are present in the collection.

In recent years, topo-cadastral maps series at scales of 1:50 000,

1:100 000 and larger have been compiled covering all of the state. Updates of the county, hundred and town cadastral maps are supplied as aperture cards.

Northern Territory

In the Northern Territory only a small area around Darwin was subdivided in the 1860's into counties and hundreds. No maps were issued for the counties which exist only in name. Twenty hundreds have survived as cadastral units and are mapped at 1:31 680.

The remainder of the Territory was divided into ten rectangular sections and mapped at a scale of 10 miles to the inch. The collection also holds a series of pastoral plans issued at irregular intervals since 1897, which show the changes in land ownership of pastoral properties.

Western Australia

In 1829 the Governor instructed Surveyor Roe to divide the Territory of Western Australia into Counties, Hundreds, Townships and square mile sections. The Counties were to contain an area of approximately 40 miles square and each County to be divided into Hundreds of approximately 100 square miles and further divided into Parishes of around 25 square miles.

The Colony was divided into 25 Counties but no attempt was made at further subdivision. These Counties centered around the South West corner of the State. Copies of the surveys for these counties may be found in the Western Australian Archives, Perth.

In 1880 the state was divided into sectional plans, the Southern and Central areas at 80 chains to the inch or 1:63 360 and the Northern areas into 300 chain scale. Features of these series include Land Divisions, pastoral leases showing number, lessee, area, length of boundaries, location numbers, tracks, roads and gazettal date, telegraph lines, railways, wells and watercourses, topographical features. Both series are held in the Map Collection.

Tasmania

Tasmania was also divided into counties and parishes, but no separate maps were issued of the individual counties and parishes. Instead the State is split into irregular shaped sections and mapped accordingly. The maps serve a dual function of counties and parishes. A set of all sheets issued in this series is held in the Map Collection.

Australian Capital Territory

Until the separation of the Australian Capital Territory from New South Wales and the resumption of land for Commonwealth purposes in 1912, land administration in the ACT was managed under the NSW system.

As land was gradually resumed, subdivision into block and section within suburbs replaced the Old Title system. Rural areas are similarly administered.

Large-scale series mapping at both imperial and metric scales are held in the Map collection although holdings are incomplete. An orthophoto cadastral series at 1: 2 500 covers the centre of Canberra.

A number of early single and series maps showing current landownership of the day prior to land resumption for Canberra are held in the collection and include the following:

Squatting Era

Prior to the Robertson Land Act of 1861 land tenure and "ownership" throughout Australia was of an unofficial nature and is commonly described as "squatting".

A small but significant number of maps, produced by individuals and commercial publishers, have survived and provide a record of the major land grabs across Australia during the early part of the nineteenth century. Most of this collection has been catalogued and is available through the Library's online Catalogue and/or the card catalogue of Rare Maps located in the Map Reading Room. Subject heading access is through the term "Pastoral holdings".

Some of the significant maps in this collection include:

Finding Aids

Access to the Library's cadastral collection can also be made through a number of ways in addition to the catalogues. These aids include gazetteers, registers and notes compiled by staff and include the following:

Gazetteers

Baillieres gazetteer of NSW, 1866
Baillieres Queensland gazetteer and road guide, 1876
Baillieres South Australian gazetteer, 1867
Baillieres Tasmanian gazetteer and road guide, 1877
Baillieres Victorian gazetteer, 1879
Gleeson, E.C. An alphabetical list of names ... in NSW showing ... the parish, etc., 1954
Hanson, William. Pastoral possessions of New South Wales, 1889

Registers

Index of NSW parish maps
Index to Surveyor's sketchbooks of NSW parishes, [1891]
Jansen, Alice. County & parish maps of NSW with index 1991
NSW counties, Western Division, 1906
Catalogue of plans of land for churches, schools and cemeteries, 1831-87
Catalogue of plans of land for national and public schools 1849-87
Catalogue of pre-emptive purchase plans 1850-75
Catalogue of plans of land reserved for sale (NSW)
Catalogue of county maps and plans (NSW)
Roads plans catalogue books 1826-c.1928 (NSW)
Registers of lithograph plans of auctions, parishes, towns, villages, municipalities (NSW)
Queensland parish directory, 3rd ed., 1986

Other aids

Staff in the Map Section have also compiled, by Australian state, collections of brochures, etc. relating to services provided by various State agencies concerned with land matters, such as the Titles Office. These are arranged in folders and are available in the Map Reading Room.

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