Rural Landownership in South East Australia since European Occupation

ABSTRACT

This paper provides historical context for contemporary discourses on landownership, notably the changing scale of absentee landownership and foreign ownership since 1849. Trends in landownership since European occupation of one of the most agriculturally productive regions in south east Australia, the Lachlan River catchment, are examined at regional, shire and district scales. Evolution of tenure indicates that absentee landowners owned most of the land until after 1935, but between the 1860s and 1970 the proportion of landowners who were resident landowners increased. In 1970, resident landowners owned most land. Since 1970, absentee landownership has increased, the most dramatic increase occurring after 1990. By 2009, absentee landownership had reached the high levels of 1849. While most contemporary types of landowners have historical antecedents, new trends include changes in the country of origin of foreign investors, increased small property ownership by city-based individuals and the establishment of Indigenous incorporated ownership.

KEY WORDS:

• Rural history
• landownership
• absentee landowner
• corporate agriculture
• foreign landownership
• Indigenous landownership

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre and Charles Sturt University (CSU) for funding this research; the NSW Land and Property Management Authority for supplying most maps; Simon McDonald of the Spatial Data Analysis Network (SPAN) at CSU for compiling all maps, as well as the 102 informants that contributed to this research, including staff at the Lachlan LHPA, Bland Shire Council and Cowra Shire Council. We would also like to thank the editor and reviewers for their comments that helped substantially improve the paper.