1Short title and commencement
This Act may be cited as the Survey Co‑ordination Act 1958, and shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation of the Governor in Council published in the Government Gazette.
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This Act may be cited as the Survey Co‑ordination Act 1958, and shall come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation of the Governor in Council published in the Government Gazette.
The Act mentioned in the Schedule to the extent thereby expressed to be repealed is hereby repealed accordingly.
Except as in this Act expressly or by necessary implication provided—
all persons things and circumstances appointed or created by or under the repealed Act or existing or continuing under that Act immediately before the commencement of this Act shall under and subject to this Act continue to have the same status operation and effect as they respectively would have had if that Act had not been so repealed;
in particular and without affecting the generality of the foregoing paragraph such repeal shall not disturb the continuity of status operation or effect of any proclamation regulation order appointment record survey list notice certificate requirement plan register consent notification index authority requisition report application exemption liability or right made effected issued granted given presented passed fixed accrued incurred or acquired or existing or continuing by or under the repealed Act before the commencement of this Act.
In this Act unless inconsistent with the context or subject-matter—
S. 3 def. of Australian Geodetic Datum inserted by No. 56/1987 s. 4, amended by No. 7/1998 s. 24(a).
Australian Geodetic Datum means the 1966 adjustment of first order triangulation of Australia or any subsequent adjustment approved by the Surveyor-General based on the position of Johnson Geodetic Station which is determined as being:
Geodetic Latitude 25° 56' 54"⋅5515 South
Geodetic Longitude 133° 12' 30"⋅0771 East
Spheroidal Height 571⋅2 metres;
S. 3 def. of Australian Map Grid inserted by No. 56/1987 s. 4, amended by No. 7/1998 s. 24(b).
Australian Map Grid means the system of rectangular co-ordinates derived from a Transverse Mercator projection of latitudes and longitudes on the Australian Geodetic Datum and defined in the Australian Map Grid Technical Manual Special Publication 10, published by the National Mapping Council of Australia in 1986 or any later definition approved by the Minister and published in the Government Gazette;
S. 3 def. of Common-wealth survey authority amended by No. 6505 s. 2.
Commonwealth survey authority means the Commonwealth Government department or branch of the Defence Forces for the time being engaged upon surveys for the triangulation and mapping of Australia;
Commonwealth survey officer means any person duly authorized in writing by the officer in charge of the Commonwealth survey authority;
department means any Government department under the direct control of a Minister of the Crown;
S. 3 def. of licensed surveyor amended by Nos 9180 s. 2(1), 47/2004 s. 71(Sch. item 5.1(a)).
licensed surveyor means a licensed surveyor under the Surveying Act 2004;
S. 3 def. of municipality repealed by No. 12/1989 s. 4(1)(Sch. 2 item 117.1) (as amended by No. 13/1990 s. 38(2)(y)).
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plan includes every plan map aerial photograph or description made or obtained as part of a survey or surveys;
prescribed means prescribed by this Act or by regulations under this Act;
S. 3 def. of proper officer amended by Nos 46/1998 s. 7(Sch. 1), 108/2004 s. 117(1) (Sch. 3 item 196.1).
proper officer means—
in relation to a department—the department head within the meaning of the Public Administration Act 2004 thereof; and
in relation to a public authority—an officer or employee of such authority nominated by such authority for the purposes of this Act;
S. 3 def. of public authority amended by No. 12/1989 s. 4(1)(Sch. 2 item 117.2).
public authority means any board commission trust or other body corporate or unincorporate (including a municipal council but not including a company incorporated for private profit) established or constituted by or under any Act for any public purpose, whether in respect of the whole of Victoria or of any particular area or areas thereof, and which is authorized or required by such Act to make surveys or the nature of whose functions requires that surveys be made by such authority or that plans of survey be lodged therewith;
registered plan means a plan of which a record has been entered in the Central Plan Register pursuant to this Act;
survey means the act or process of determining the form contour position area height depth or any other similar particulars with respect to any part of the earth's surface whether land or water or of any natural or artificial features on below or above any part of such surface or the length and direction of the bounding lines of any part of such surface or of any such natural or artificial features and includes the making or obtaining of a plan or plans thereof;
surveyor includes—
any licensed surveyor; and
any person who carries out or superintends any survey on behalf of any department or public authority;
S. 3 def. of Surveyor-General amended by Nos 9549 s. 2(1)(Sch. item 224), 10087 s. 3(1)(Sch. 1 item 248), 41/1987 s. 103(Sch. 4 item 63.2), repealed by No. 46/1998 s. 7(Sch. 1).
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S. 3 def. of Surveyors Board amended by No. 9180 s. 2(1), substituted as def. of Surveyors Registration Board by No. 47/2004 s. 71(Sch. item 5.1(b)).
Surveyors Registration Board means the Surveyors Registration Board of Victoria established under the Surveying Act 2004.
Pt 1 (Heading) inserted by No. 7360 s. 3.
Part I—Survey co-ordination generally
No. 4732 s. 3.
S. 4 amended by Nos 10087 s. 3(1)(Sch. 1 item 248), 41/1987 s. 103(Sch. 4 item 63.4), 46/1998 s. 7(Sch. 1), 108/2004 s. 117(1) (Sch. 3 item 196.2), 51/2016 s. 33, 25/2025 s. 106(Sch. 1 item 43).
There shall be maintained in the Department of Transport and Planning a Central Plan Office.
No. 4732 s. 5.
No survey shall after the commencement of this Act be commenced by or on behalf of any department or public authority unless a notice in the prescribed form of intention to commence such survey has been delivered or forwarded to and received by the Surveyor-General at least five days before such survey is commenced:
Provided that where the urgency of the survey does not allow of five days' notice as aforesaid notice of intention to commence or (as the case may require) of having commenced such survey shall be given as early as is practicable in the circumstances and shall be accompanied by a certificate of the proper officer of the department or authority concerned setting out the reasons for such later notice.
No. 4732 s. 6.
Without limiting the generality of the provisions of this Act relating to surveys in or contiguous to proclaimed survey areas the Surveyor-General may by writing addressed to the proper officer of any department or public authority require in relation to any survey being carried out or proposed to be carried out by or on behalf of such department or authority—
that such survey shall be connected to an existing local or general survey or based upon a specified datum as to levels or otherwise;
that the surveyor carrying out such survey shall cause permanent marks of a prescribed kind to be established within or adjacent to the area surveyed as the Surveyor-General directs and also that such survey shall be connected with any permanent mark or marks already established;
that the original or a true copy of any plan made or obtained as part of such survey showing the date of the survey and certified by the surveyor who carries out the survey together with a separate sketch plan certified by such surveyor showing the position of any permanent marks established and the connexion (if any) of such survey with any local or general survey or with any permanent mark or marks already established shall be forwarded to the Surveyor-General immediately after the completion of such plans.
The proper officer of such department or public authority shall cause the survey to be carried out and plans prepared and forwarded in accordance with any such requisition of the Surveyor-General and any plans so forwarded shall be lodged in the Central Plan Office.
S. 6(3) amended by Nos 9180 s. 2(1), 47/2004 s. 71(Sch. item 5.2).
Every survey commenced by or on behalf of any department or public authority after the commencement of this Act (whether the subject of a requisition by the Surveyor-General under the foregoing provisions of this section or not) shall, unless required to be carried out in accordance with the Surveying Act 2004 or the regulations under that Act, be carried out in accordance with the standards of measurement and accuracy prescribed by regulations under this Act relating to surveys of the appropriate kind.
No. 4732 s. 7.
The proper officer of every department or public authority shall in each year within fourteen days after the last day of March June September and December respectively—
cause to be compiled lists setting out the prescribed particulars with respect to—
every plan prepared by or on behalf of such department or authority or lodged therewith during the period of three months ending on such last day; and
every survey carried out by or on behalf of such authority during such period of which a plan has not been made; and
cause copies of such lists certified by him to be correct and complete to be forwarded to the Surveyor-General.
No. 4732 s. 8.
The Surveyor-General after due enquiry shall cause to be entered in a register in the Central Plan Office which shall be called the Central Plan Register and which shall be in the prescribed form and contain the prescribed classifications and particulars a record of such of the plans—
set out on any list forwarded to him under the foregoing provisions of this Act; or
forwarded to him under the foregoing provisions of this Act—
as appear to him to be of general value for the purpose of this Act and shall cause to be marked or stamped upon every such plan (whether in the Central Plan Office or not) such particulars of its registration and classification as are prescribed.
Where it appears to the Surveyor-General that any registered plan in the possession of any department or public authority is of such general value for the purposes of this Act that it ought to be lodged in the Central Plan Office, then—
in the case of any plan in the possession of a department—with the consent of the Minister of the department concerned; and
in the case of any plan in the possession of a public authority—with the consent of the chairman or president of such authority—
such plan may notwithstanding anything in any Act be lodged and kept in the Central Plan Office.
No registered plan which remains in the possession of any department or public authority shall be destroyed or except in pursuance of this Act removed out of the possession of such department or authority without the consent in writing of the Surveyor-General.
Any alteration to any registered plan which remains in the possession of any department or public authority shall within fourteen days of such alteration be notified in writing by the proper officer of such department or authority to the Surveyor-General and (where a copy of such registered plan has been provided to the Surveyor-General) a plan showing the details of such alteration shall be forwarded to the Surveyor-General with such notification.
For the purpose of the registration and classification of plans pursuant to this Act, every person duly authorized by the Surveyor-General shall at all reasonable times have free access to all plans set out on any list forwarded to the Surveyor-General under the foregoing provisions of this Act which are in the possession of any department or public authority.
The Surveyor-General shall cause to be published in the prescribed manner and form—
in the month of July in every year in which the Minister so directs—an index of all plans recorded in the Central Plan Register as at the thirtieth day of June then last past; and
in the month of July in every year in which an index as aforesaid is not published—a supplementary index of all plans so recorded since the last publication of the index or supplementary index (as the case may be) up to the thirtieth day of June then last past.
A copy of such portion of each such index or supplementary index as is required shall be made available by the Surveyor-General—
without charge, to the Commonwealth survey authority and to every department and public authority; and
upon payment of the prescribed fee, to any person.
No. 4732 s. 9.
S. 9(1) amended by Nos 9549 s. 2(1)(Sch. item 225), 46/1998 s. 7(Sch. 1), 108/2004 s. 117(1) (Sch. 3 item 196.3).
There is to be employed under Part 3 of the Public Administration Act 2004 a person in the Office of Titles (hereinafter called the Titles Office Survey Officer) who shall (so far as relates to the carrying out of this Act) be responsible to the Surveyor-General and whose duty it shall be to assist in the co-ordination of lodged plans and other plans in the Office of Titles with registered plans in the Central Plan Office and to provide to the Central Plan Office such information with respect to such lodged plans or other plans as may be necessary or expedient for the purposes of this Act.
Every person duly authorized in writing by the Surveyor-General whether generally or in any particular case and every Commonwealth survey officer shall at all reasonable times be entitled to inspect any lodged plans or other plans in the Office of Titles.
No. 4732 s. 10.
Every surveyor every Commonwealth survey officer and every person duly authorized in writing by the Surveyor-General shall at all reasonable times be entitled to inspect any registered plan in the Central Plan Office, and the Surveyor-General when so required shall give the authority necessary for the inspection by any such surveyor of any registered plan which is not in the Central Plan Office.
Every person duly authorized in writing by the Surveyor-General whether generally or in any particular case and every Commonwealth survey officer shall at all reasonable times be entitled to inspect any registered plan in the possession of any department or public authority.
No. 4732 s. 11.
Every department or public authority shall, when so required by the Surveyor-General by writing addressed to the proper officer thereof, provide an accurate copy of any registered plan in its possession—
to the Surveyor-General or to any Commonwealth survey officer; or
to any other department or public authority or to any licensed surveyor—
at such charge as is provided by or under any other Act for the sale of such copy; or
(where there is no such provision) at a charge which shall not exceed the cost of preparation of such copy plus Ten per centum of such cost.
No. 4732 s. 12.
S. 12(1) amended by Nos 56/1987 s. 5(a)–(d), 47/2004 s. 71(Sch. item 5.3).
The Surveyor-General, after consultation with the Surveyors Registration Board and with representatives of such departments as may be concerned and of such public authorities as he thinks proper, may cause to be carried out in an area such survey or surveys as he considers necessary for establishing a standard traverse for such area for the convenient connexion of local or general surveys with the Australian Map Grid, and may cause to be established on or adjacent to the standard traverse so established such permanent marks of any prescribed kind as he considers proper.
Upon a report of the Surveyor-General in writing to the effect—
that the foregoing provisions of this section have been carried out to his satisfaction with respect to any area within Victoria and a standard traverse established for such area; or
that there are in existence in any area within Victoria sufficient permanent marks for the establishment of a local traverse for such area—
the Governor in Council by proclamation published in the Government Gazette may proclaim such area to be a "proclaimed survey area" for the purposes of this Act.
After the publication of any such proclamation every survey for any purpose under any Act of any area which is wholly or partly within or contiguous to the proclaimed survey area to which the proclamation relates whether carried out by or on behalf of any department or public authority or by any surveyor privately employed shall be connected to the standard traverse or local traverse (as the case may be) for such proclaimed survey area either—
directly; or
where the Surveyor-General or some person duly authorized in writing in that behalf by the Surveyor-General so authorizes in writing—indirectly by way of connexion with an existing survey or permanent mark already connected or proposed to be connected to such standard or local traverse—
and no plan of any such survey shall be lodged with or accepted or otherwise used by any department or public authority or be of any validity whatever for any purpose under any Act unless it shows such connexion as aforesaid certified by the surveyor who carries out the survey or is accompanied by a sketch plan showing such connexion so certified.
It shall be the duty of the Surveyor-General when so requested to advise the surveyor of any department or public authority or any licensed surveyor as to how proposed surveys of any such area as aforesaid may be connected with the standard or local traverse and to authorize any such indirect connexion as aforesaid as appears to him to be more convenient or economical than a direct connexion with such traverse, and any survey carried out or plan prepared in accordance with any such written authority of the Surveyor-General shall, where such authority is attached to the plan, be deemed for all purposes a sufficient compliance with the requirements of this section.
S. 12(5) amended by No. 9019 s. 2(1)(Sch. item 219).
A record of the plan or plans of every standard or local traverse established pursuant to this section shall be entered in the Central Plan Register and a copy of every plan of a standard traverse certified by the surveyor who carried out the survey and by the Surveyor-General shall be forwarded by the Surveyor-General to the Commonwealth survey authority immediately upon the completion thereof.
No. 4732 s. 13.
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