Wellington Land District is a land district (cadastral division) of Western Australia, located within the South-West Land Division on the state's west coast. It spans roughly 32°56'S – 33°40'S in latitude and 115°25'E – 116°50'E in longitude.
History
The system of land districts came together in an ad hoc fashion, and the Wellington district started to be subdivided in 1835 well before any thought was given to formally defining its boundaries.[1] The definition later used by the Lands and Surveys department came from an 1862 gazettal which read as follows:[2]
Bounded on the West by the sea-coast; on the North by an East line from the said coast to the River Murray passing through the summit of Mount William, then the Murray and Williams Rivers upwards (exclusive of the licenses and locations on either bank of each) to Bannister townsite on the Williams; and on the South by an East line from the seacoast to Capel River through the North end of Wonnerup Inlet, then by said river upwards to location 171 (inclusive), then by a South-easterly line to junction of Padbury Brook with the River Blackwood, then by the Blackwood upwards to its junction with Balgarrup River; and on the East by an indefinite line.
Under the Land Act 1898, the Agricultural Lands Purchase Act 1896, and preceding regulations, it was open to the Governor to declare agricultural areas on crown land or repurchased estates on private land, to which special provisions applied for both alienation and improvement. Many of these estates came into being shortly after World War I for the purposes of soldier resettlement.
