Parish and Township Plans

At the time of settlement in Victoria, the survey of the Port Philip region was based on the English system of dividing land into Counties and then Parishes which were approximately 25 square miles in area. If possible, they were bounded by a natural boundary as near as possible to a rectangular shape and named after an indigenous word. In Victoria there are 37 Counties which have been further subdivided into 2005 Parishes and 909 Government Townships

Each Parish and Township in Victoria has a Record plan associated with it that shows the particulars of land sold or alienated by the Crown and the status of the remaining Crown Land. Prior to October 2001 all Crown land dealings were noted on these Record Plans which were held in the Central Plan Office. Record plans are still held by the Surveyor General of Victoria, but they are no longer updated because notings of surveys are now made in the Victorian Online Titles System (VOTS). Record plans do provide information on the amount and status of Crown land in and prior to 2001.

Some of that information is survey related and is of particular benefit when Crown boundaries and government road alignments are to be re-established. In addition to the dimensions of boundaries shown on the Record Plan, there are also notings that can lead to valuable Crown survey information.

The most common notings that appear adjacent to the allotments to which they relate are:

• OP (Original Plan of Survey), which is the prefix most commonly used for Crown surveys – the numbers range from 1 to approximately 85,000 pre-metric, then from 100,000 onwards

 • CP (Certified Plan)

• FN (Field Notes).