Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey

In 1857 the Board of Land and Works was established because it was considered that the administration of public lands and public works would be more effectually and economically managed if it were consolidated and placed under one head. By Letters Patent of 28 April 1857, the positions of Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey (previously Surveyor-General) and Commissioner of Public Works were abolished and the powers previously exercised by the Commissioners were vested in the Board of Land and Works . The departments of the Civil Service previously under the Commissioners' control effectively became sub-departments of the Board. While there was clearly an intent to achieve consolidation, the extent to which the sub-departments were administratively integrated following the establishment of the Board in 1857 is uncertain and from late 1858 and the reappointment of a Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey and a Commissioner of Public Works, the sub-departments were clearly administratively separate.^[1]

Although a Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey had been reappointed to the Ministry in 1858, statutory authority for lands matters continued to be vested in the Board until its abolition in 1964.^[1]

By 1855, the Geological Survey had been associated with the administration of public lands and in 1857, following the establishment of the Board of Land and Works, this arrangement continued. By 1858 however responsibility for the geological survey had been transferred to the Chief Secretary's Department where it remained until 1861, despite the recommendation of the Civil Service Commission of 1859-60 that it be transferred to the department of the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey. In 1861 responsibility for the geological survey was assumed by the Commissioner of Mines and the newly established Department of Mines.^[1]

Assisted immigration was frequently associated with land settlement in Victoria and by 1906 the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey had become responsible for immigration in connection with land settlement and the augmenting of the labour force. By 1912 an Immigration and Labour Bureau had been established within the Department of Crown Lands and Survey.^[1]

By 1864 and until August 1873, the Commissioner of Public Works and the Public Works Department were responsible for the administration of cemeteries including the appointment of trustees and approval of regulations and fees. From 1873 until 1888 the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Survey and the Department of Crown Lands and Survey were responsible and in 1888 the Chief Secretary and the Chief Secretary's Department assumed responsibility. The Public Works Department however continued to be responsible for the allocation of fencing grants.^[1]

In 1983 the Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands was established. The establishment of this Department reflected the Government's intention to consolidate the administration of all public lands matters in the one Department; to co-ordinate the use of land resources; to rationalise the many different local land management systems and authorities and to better co-ordinate the management of public lands with conservation requirements.^[1]

The new department assumed responsibility for all matters relating to survey and mapping, crown lands administration and the Royal Botanic Gardens and National Herbarium from the Department of Crown Lands and Survey.^[1]