Soldier Settlement in NSW

The Returned Soldier Settlement Act 1916 allowed the settlement of returned soldiers on Crown and Closer Settlement lands. Soldier settlement repatriation schemes were promoted as a pathway for some of the 300,000 returned servicemen and women to secure land ownership and financial independence. Although 40,000 men and women took up of the offer of farming land through these schemes, fewer than half remain on the land 15 years later.

This webinar explores records in the NSW State Archives Collection that tell the stories of these soldier settlers. Learn more about the individuals who participated in the scheme, and how you can research these men and women in our collection.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:11 Acknowledgement of Country

0:40 NSW Soldier Settlement: a brief history

6:43 Records of NSW Soldier Settlement

7:09 Online indexes

9:13 Soldier Settlement purchases index 1905-1937

11:47 Soldier (Closer) Settlement transfer registers 1919-1925

13:13 Soldier (Closer) Settlement Transfer files 1907-1951

15:08 Soldier Settlement miscellaneous files index, 1916

16:56 Soldier Settlement loan files index 1906-1960

21:48 Soldier (Closer) settlement promotion files index 1913-1958

26:42 Unindexed records

26:57 Closer Settlement estate files

29:45 Closer Settlement correspondence files

34:17 Soldier settlement: search strategies

36:44 Next steps

37:40 What to remember