- Research guide describing records about buildings constructed, owned or occupied by the government.
- Research guide to the history of your house at Queensland State Archives
- Research guide to land codes (or abbreviations) of land types used for land selection.
- Research guide to the main series of maps including cadastral maps, topographic maps, survey plans and thematic maps.
- Research guide to records of town commons files from 1866 to 1918.
- Research guide to Soldier Settlement records at Queensland State Archives
Lands and mining
We hold archival records of maps, land orders, sales and leases, acquisitions and mining records. We also hold records on buildings built or used by the government.
Finding records about lands and mining
Research guides
- Research guide to Alienation and sale of Crown lands describing records about the alienation of land from the Crown, and the subsequent sale of the land after auction.
- Research guide to land agents’ records of registers from 1855, including land transactions, leases, purchase and licences.
- Research guide describing records about land exchanges and commonwealth acquisitions from 1868.
- Research guide to records describing the form of land tenure such as pastoral lease, occupation license, selection, special lease or freehold.
- Research guide to registers and files from each Land Agent District that includes name of locality or run, name of licensee, application date, land size and location, rent paid and forfeiture of land.
- Research guide to records of special leases for a period not exceeding thirty years.
- Research guide to occupational licence records for a period not exceeding one year.
- Research guide to miner's homestead lease records and Research guide to mining records for Mining Warden mineral and gold field homestead records, lease applications, maps and registers administered under various acts from 1869–1990.
- Research guide to mining records provides a list of the main series of records at Queensland State Archives from the Queensland Mines Department and Mining Warden's Offices including separate series of records for the three main types of mining; gold, coal and base metals.
Search the indexes
You can search our indexes if you know the name and location of the person you are looking for. Searching the indexes below will take you to an item’s description where you can gather more information such as the Item ID or microfilm number.
Copies of most items (unless they have restricted access) can be supplied for a fee using our order form.
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Lands and Mining
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Mineral leases 1871-1940
Mineral leases and licences created by the Mines Department in the localities including Bowen, Bundaberg, Cairns, Charleville, Charters Towers, Childers, Clermont, Cloncurry, Cooktown, Etheridge, Gladstone, Gympie, Ingham, Longreach, Mackay, Mareeba, Mount Morgan, Palmer, Rockhampton, Sellheim, Stanthorpe, and Warwick. The leases and licences include those for gold (GML), mineral (ML), coal (CML) and water race (WRL).
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Miners rights 1874-1880
Registers of miners' licenses and business licenses issued mainly between 1 November 1874 and 31 May 1876. Created by the Warden?s Office at Maytown however also includes Edwardstown, Palmerville and Kingsboro
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Register of Pastoral Holdings 1863-1880
Registers that records early pastoral holdings (known as stations) in Queensland and includes names of the runs that incorporated them; created by the Lands Department
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Rents Payable Pastoral Runs Index 1860-1911
Registers showing rent payable on the resumed parts of runs as well as ledgers kept by Treasury of rent paid
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Transfer of runs 1848-1874
Papers and correspondence relating to the transfer of runs and selections in the Moreton District kept by the Crown Lands Office.
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Applications by Selectors 1868-1885 (LAN/P54-56) LAN/P57
Applications from selectors for land taken up under the "Crown Lands Alienation Acts, 1868 and 1876", and amending acts giving the selector's name and the selection numbers and details of any selections taken up.
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Registers of Lessees of Agricultural and Grazing Farms 1885-1908 [LAN/P518 Index]
Registers of lessees of agricultural and grazing farms under the Crown Lands Act, 1884 and the Land Acts, 1897 and 1902, including name of lease holder, date and location.
Full index
Download the full index below
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Land selections 1885-1981
Register recording details of land selected. Compiled from S13955
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Lands Sold 1842-1868
Index to land sold in Queensland
- Gympie Mining Claims 1868 - 1901
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Land Orders 1865 to 1866 (Lands Dept)
Records regarding the disposal of crown lands issued under the provisions of a Non-Transferable Land Order; includes a general description of the land includes measurement, location by county and parish and portion number. Created by the Lands Department
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Mineral leases 1871-1940
Search the catalogue
ArchivesSearch provides access to QSA’s collection of records, including documents, letters, land orders, maps, plans and images. For help searching, read the ArchivesSearch help guide.
- Spelling of names was not as consistent as it is today, so be sure to check alternatives—e.g. Thompson and Thomson.
- Names may have been incorrectly indexed as the handwriting is sometimes difficult to read or the ink has faded.
- The capital letters L, T, F and S are often confused as lower-case letters n, m, u and w. This means that Taylor may indexed as Laylor or Brum may be indexed as Bruin.
- The use of double ‘s’ (ss) often looks like fs, so Ross will be indexed as Ross but may appear in the record as Rofs.
- Names may have been written in the record phonetically as the clerks wrote the names as they heard them. Think about how it could be spelt as it was heard.
- Some given names are abbreviated as they appear in the original record
- Some records are restricted for several years.
- Some records have not survived.
- A blank cell indicates that there is no information recorded in the original.
- Many miners may have held a sub-lease on a mineral claim and did not hold the mineral lease in their own name.
Contact us
Contact us if you need further help.