World War II Soldier Settlement and Land Settlement Scheme

If you are looking for the records of someone who obtained land as part of the Soldier Settlement or Land Settlement schemes, you will need to know their surname. If you are looking for records about a person whose land was acquired for the scheme you will need to know their surname or the location of their land.

For some of the records, you will need to do a search based on the location/estate name where the allotment was located.

You can search the most relevant records by entering the surname of a settler or the surname of the person whose land the government acquired for the scheme, or the name of an estate in the search box below. Select an option to select particular types of records (recommended) or leave the option as 'search all' to do a search on all of these records (less targeted results).

The options are as follows:

Information Sheets for Applicants (VPRS 16755) - select this option to search only for information sheets for applicants using the location/name of the relevant estate.

Estate Plans and Cards, and Survey Plans (VPRS 16751, 16752, 16753, 16756) - select this option to search only for estate plans and cards, other agency plans and survey plans using the location/name of the relevant estate.

Purchase Lease and Estate Development Files (VPRS 16540, 16289, 16290) - select this option to search only for records documenting individual settlers purchase leases using their surname. These records also include files relating to statements for the Commonwealth, costs, and survey and subdivision - for these you will need to use the location/name of the estate.

Property Acquisition Files (VPRS 16291) - select this option to search only for records about land that was acquired by the government for this scheme, using the surname of the person whose land was acquired or the location of their land.

Additional records can be browsed and searched using the links under the heading 'About these records' below.

These are physical records that are available for ordering and viewing in our reading room. 

These records relate to the establishment and administration of the Soldier Settlement and Land Settlement schemes. Soldier Settlement was for World War II ex-servicemen, and then in 1959 the scheme was broadened to include applicants who had not served in the war, which was known as the Land Settlement Scheme.

These were completely separate schemes to the one that was established after World War I.

In addition to the above search, there are other records relating to the Soldier Settlement and Land Settlement schemes that can be browsed (and searched using filtering keywords) using the following links:

• Annual Reports, 1945-1961 (VPRS 17756) - select the annual report for a particular year then order it for viewing.
• Soldier Settlement and Land Settlement Building Plans and Specifications, 1947-1981 (VPRS 16754) - browse the subject listing to find a record of interest. These records consists of plans, specifications and blueprints of standard designs for houses, sheds, fences and other farm structures.
• Soldier Settlement and Land Settlement Deeds Register, 1947-1988 (VPRS 16759) - select a box with the category and name range for the settler for whom you are searching and order it for viewing.  These are records of the documents held as securities (deeds) relating to the settlers' other debts which would impact on their ability to pay off the purchase lease for their allotments.
• Soldier Settlement and Land Settlement Registers, 1947-1970 (VPRS 16758) - browse to select records of possible interest and order for viewing. These records include applications for loans, housing contracts let, purchase leases granted and temporary leases granted.

The following agencies were successively responsible for the soldier and land settlement schemes, you can find further information about each of them and see a list of the records we hold from them by following the links:

•    Soldier Settlement Commission 1945 – 1962 (VA 2270)
•    Rural Finance and Settlement Commission 1962 – 1977 (VA 2273)
•    Rural Finance Commission 1977 – 1988 (VA 1073)