In 1880, in most of the Australian colonies married women could not select land.
In Victoria, the maximum number of acres a person could select was 320. This was also the case in Tasmania and New Zealand. In other Australian colonies, it was possible to select larger properties.
In Victoria, the purchase could be paid off over a period of 20 years. This was a longer repayment period than in any other of the other colonies. In New South Wales, the period was 18 years. In South Australia it was as little as 9.
There was an initial cost per acre (1 pound) but also a annual license fee per acre (1 shilling).
Improvements had to be made to the property – 1 pound per acre. Improvements had to be completed within 10 years – the same conditions as in Western Australia. In other colonies, improvements needed to be finished faster. In New South Wales it was 3 years.
In Victoria, 10 acres of every 100 had to be under cultivation and one was required to live at the property for at least 5 years. In South Australia and Queensland it was 9 or 10 years respectively, but one could also nominate a substitute to live on the property.
Some land was not considered to be valuable. This included land that was mountainous, covered in mallee scrub or land with lakes and lagoons.
According to government calculations, around 59% of the state’s land was deemed suitable for occupation.1 Around 60% of this had already been alienated.
There were Land Acts passed in 1869 and 1878.
Not all land that was purchased was kept by selectors. At times properties were abandoned and at other times they reverted back to Crown ownership when selectors couldn’t fulfill the requirements of selection.
In 1880, 260,016 acres reverted back to the Crown.
Squatting runs were becoming fewer and fewer in number. By 1880 the number was 612.
In 1880 there were 48,969 holdings larger than 1 acre.
In 1880-1, the areas that produced the largest yield of potatoes per acre were Croajingolong and Dargo (more than 4 tons). High yields were also registered in Benambra, Buln Buln, Hampden, Mornington, Polwarth, Tambo, Tanjil and Villiers.
In 1880-1, 48.91% of the total land under cultivation was for wheat. Only 2.3% was for potatoes.
Around 1875, a vine disease hit Geelong. Inspectors visited the region and, “they considered that nothing short of uprooting the vines in the entire Geelong district, and turning over the soil on which they had grown to the depth of at least two feet, and leaving it exposed to atmospheric influences and fallow for not less than twelve months, would completely eradicate the disease; and even then it would not be safe to plant vines upon the land until after four years had expired.”2
By 1880-1, the value of wheat exports from Victoria was worth 2,016,402 pounds.
The number of hands employed on agricultural and pastoral holdings was 106,782.
Reapers and mowers still earned the highest rates of pay. Ploughmen earned 19s. 7d. per week. Boundary riders received over 41 pounds per year and sheepwashers got over a pound a week.
By 1881, the total number of livestock in the colony was 1,286,267.
On average, there were 3 horses, 15 cattle and 118 sheep per square mile.
Australia and the World Past and Present 
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