Land grants
Introduction
Early grants of land were available to free settlers, convicts who had completed their sentence, and military personnel. The finding aids listed in this guide will help in locating details of individual grants.
- European convicts, military, and free settlers first settled in Tasmania’s south in 1803. If your ancestors arrived at this time they are likely to have settled at Sullivan’s Cove and to have been part of the development of Hobart Town.
- In the north, a settlement was established in 1804 at Port Dalrymple on the Tamar River. Launceston was named in 1807 as Port Dalrymple’s main settlement, with the first land grants in the North of the State being granted in 1808.
- By 1823 European settlement had stretched from Hobart to Launceston
- Between 1804-1834 there were land grants to free settlers, convicts whose sentences were completed, and military personnel.
- Because the Deeds registry was not established in Tasmania until 1827, there are few property transaction records before then.
What can I see online?
Search and view many records in the Tasmanian Names Index, including land grants between 1832 and 1935.
- 1804-1823 Index to copies of land grants issued (LSD404) (The index to LSD354)
- 1804-1823 Copies of land grants issued (LSD354) (Indexed by LSD404)
- 1804-1823 Registers of land granted – “Sydney Registers” volumes 1 and 2 (LSD405)
- 1824 Map of Tasmania showing land grants, distances from Hobart, notes on topography and settlement
- 1832-1935 Index to deeds of land grants (AD956) (The index to RD1)
- 1832-1935 Deeds of land grants (RD1) (Indexed by AD956)
- 1833-1878 Maps and survey charts (LSD264) (From the former Land & Surveys Department)
- 1837 Hughes’ map of Northern Tasmania with landowners’ index
- 1841-1846 Sprent’s survey maps of Hobart Town on LISTmap (AF393)
- Land district charts on LISTmap (AF396)
- 1824-1832 Register of location orders issued (LSD409/1/1-2)
- Miscellaneous land grant maps
- Tasmania, Australia, Deeds of Land Grants 1804-1935 (in Ancestry Library Edition – available onsite in all our libraries. When in Ancestry, click on New Collections and do a Title search for deeds of land grants)
Land granted to returned servicemen after WWI under the Returned Soldiers Settlement Act, 1916
- 1916-1932 Correspondence concerning offers by landholders to sell land for soldier settlement (AB3)
- 1917 County maps showing subdivided land (AB125)
- 1917-1927 Applications for advances to purchase stock, seed and agricultural implements (AB11)
- 1917-1927 Applications to lease land (LSD190)
- 1917-1940s Applications for land (LSD166)
- 1918-1940 Tenders, contracts, plans and correspondence about the construction of dwellings on land leased by Returned Soldiers (AB15)
- 1919-1920 Applications and correspondence relating to the selection of land (AB13)
- 1919-1928 Register of approved applications to lease (AB37)
- 1919-1930 Register of applicants for leases (AB38)
- 1919-1929 Applications for permanent improvements to land (AB12)
- 1923-1955 Register of short term and temporary leases (AB39)
What’s available physically?
The following works by Thelma McKay resolve most land grant enquiries.
- 1804-1823 Index to Early Land Grants, VDL
- 1824-1832 Register of Land Grants, VDL
- 1810-c1850 Land grants – miscellaneous papers re New South Wales and Tasmanian land grants, 1810-c.1850, from five sources in the Mitchell Library, Sydney (Microfilm)
Other useful archival sources for locating land grants
- Card index in the Reading Room in Hobart
- 1824-1834 Warrants issued by the Lieutenant-Governor instructing the Surveyor-General to locate and measure free grants (LSD378)
- c1822-1964 General correspondence. The earlier correspondence for this series includes applications for land grants, requests for surveys of land as well as other matters relating to the management and disposal of Crown Lands (LSD1)
- 1826-1828 Journals of the Land Commissioners for Van Diemen’s Land (indexed)
- 1821-1826 Register of Land Grants (AC384) Alphabetical
- 1832-1836 Index to applications for titles (SC295)
- 1836-1926 Register of applications for the issue of titles to grants (SC309)
- Library and other resources about land grants
The LIST (Land Titles Office)
The LIST (Land Information System Tasmania) is an online government resource that helps you trace the history of Tasmanian land and property through the use of historic maps, plans, deeds and titles, and access to Deeds Registry records (1827-1862 registrations of land transactions) and records of the Land Titles Office (1862-current). Using the online map application LISTmap, you can view and create customised maps using multiple layers of information.