{"id":"anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918","name":"Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918","slug":"anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":29977,"registerId":"wa-anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nAnglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918\n\n- **Reprinted under the *Reprints Act 1984* as**\n- **at 4 September 2015**\n\n\nWestern Australia\n\nAnglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 2\n\n2. Dissolution of incorporation of Bunbury and Kalgoorlie Trustees under 1895 Act 2\n\n3. Incorporation of Bunbury Diocesan Trustees 2\n\n4. Incorporation of Kalgoorlie Diocesan Trustees 3\n\n5. Incorporation of Northern Diocese Trustees 3\n\n6. Common seals 3\n\n7. Perth Diocesan Trustees’ powers as to lands extended 3\n\n8. *Anglican Church of Australia (Diocesan Trustees) Act 1888* to apply to new dioceses 4\n\n10. *Anglican Church of Australia Lands Act 1914* to apply to new dioceses 4\n\n11. Change of name of “The Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia” 4\n\n12. Transfer of property to Bunbury and Kalgoorlie Trustees authorised and confirmed 5\n\n13. Bunbury Trustees may sell etc. certain lands free from trusts 5\n\n14. Protection of purchasers and others 6\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 8\n\n  \n\n- Crest **Reprinted under the *Reprints Act 1984* as**\n- **at 4 September 2015**\n\n\nWestern Australia\n\nAnglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918\n\nAn Act to amend the Act of the Legislative Council 52 Victoria, No. 2 2, and the *Church of England Lands Act 1914*3, and to incorporate the Trustees of the Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, and Northern Dioceses of the Church of England in Western Australia 4, and for other purposes.\n\nPreamble\n\nWhereas at the time of the passing of the Act of the Legislative Council 52 Victoria, No. 2 2, there was but one Diocese of the Church of England in Western Australia 4 embracing the whole of the State: And whereas the State is now divided into 4 Dioceses, namely, the Dioceses of Perth, Bunbury, and Kalgoorlie, and the Northern Diocese: And whereas, by the several Statutes of the Synod of the Diocese of Perth providing for the constitution of the Dioceses of Bunbury and Kalgoorlie, and the Northern Diocese respectively, it was resolved and agreed that certain lands within the boundaries of the Dioceses of Bunbury and Kalgoorlie respectively should, in certain events, which have happened, be vested in the Trustees to be appointed for those Dioceses, and that certain lands within the boundaries of the Northern Diocese should be held by the Diocesan Trustees of the Diocese of Perth in trust for the Northern Diocese until such time as Diocesan Trustees for the Northern Diocese should have been elected and incorporated: And whereas trustees have been duly appointed for the Dioceses of Bunbury and Kalgoorlie respectively, and incorporated under the provisions of the *Associations Incorporation Act 1895* 5, but no trustees have been yet appointed or elected for the Northern Diocese: And whereas doubts have arisen as to the legality of the incorporation of such trustees under the said Act, and the respective Synods of the said Dioceses of Bunbury and Kalgoorlie are desirous of obtaining a dissolution of the incorporation of their respective Trustees under the said *Associations Incorporations Act 1895* 5, and to have such Trustee incorporated under this Act:\n\nBe it therefore enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: —\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918* 1.\n\n[Section 1 amended: No. 121 of 1976 s. 7.]\n\n##### 2. Dissolution of incorporation of Bunbury and Kalgoorlie Trustees under 1895 Act\n\nThe incorporation of the Bunbury Diocesan Trustees and the Kalgoorlie Diocesan Trustees effected under the *Associations Incorporation Act 1895* 5, is hereby dissolved: Provided that any and every deed, contract, agreement, act, matter, or thing heretofore executed or done by such trustees as a corporation under the said Act shall have and take effect as if such corporation had been regular and in accordance with the said Act.\n\n##### 3. Incorporation of Bunbury Diocesan Trustees\n\nThe trustees appointed by the Synod of the Diocese of Bunbury and their successors in office to be appointed from time to time in accordance with the provisions of any Statute of the Synod of the said Diocese shall be and are hereby constituted a Corporation by the name and style of “The Bunbury Diocesan Trustees”.\n\n##### 4. Incorporation of Kalgoorlie Diocesan Trustees\n\nThe trustees appointed by the Synod of the Diocese of Kalgoorlie and their successors in office to be appointed from time to time in accordance with the provisions of any Statute of the Synod of the said Diocese shall be and are hereby constituted a Corporation by the name and style of “The Kalgoorlie Diocesan Trustees”.\n\n##### 5. Incorporation of Northern Diocese Trustees\n\nThe trustees to be elected by the Synod of the Northern Diocese, when such Diocese is organised with a Synod, and their successors in office to be appointed from time to time in accordance with the provisions of any Statute of the Synod of the said Diocese shall be and are hereby constituted a Corporation by the name and style of “The Trustees of the Northern Diocese” 6.\n\n##### 6. Common seals\n\nEvery body of trustees incorporated by this Act shall, by its corporate name, have perpetual succession and a common seal to be by them from time to time altered as they may think fit, and by that name may sue and be sued.\n\n##### 7. Perth Diocesan Trustees’ powers as to lands extended\n\n(a) Section 2 of the Act 52 Victoria, No. 2 2, is hereby amended by inserting in the 26th line thereof, after the word “property”, the words following “or for the purpose of redeeming any mortgage or other security or charge or any part thereof respectively upon any lands or other property vested in the said trustees”.\n\n(b) The power of demising lands vested in the Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia 7 by the said Act shall include the power to grant building or repairing leases in possession or reversion for any term and upon and subject to such stipulations covenants and conditions as they may think fit, and with or without an option of purchase, but subject to any trust affecting the land, and subject in all respects to the Statutes, orders, directions, and regulations of Synod.\n\n##### 8. *Anglican Church of Australia (Diocesan Trustees) Act 1888* to apply to new dioceses\n\nEvery body of trustees incorporated by this Act shall have and enjoy and may exercise all the like powers and authorities as are conferred by the said Act, 52 Victoria, No. 2 2, as amended by this Act upon the Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia 7, but subject in all respects to all and every liability, trust, and obligation affecting any real and personal estate vested in the said trustees, and subject also to the Statutes, orders, directions, and regulations of the Synod of the Diocese.\n\n[**9.** Omitted under the Reprints Act 1984 s. 7(4)(e).]\n\n##### 10. *Anglican Church of Australia Lands Act 1914* to apply to new dioceses\n\nSubject to any Statutes of the Synod of the Diocese the trustees thereof hereby incorporated shall have and may exercise in respect of lands granted by the Crown and vested in them the powers conferred by the *Anglican Church of Australia Lands Act 1914* 8, on the Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia 7, and all other the provisions of the said Act as amended by this Act shall apply to such lands.\n\n[Section 10 amended: No. 121 of 1976 s. 7.]\n\n##### 11. Change of name of “The Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia”\n\nThe name and style of the corporation constituted by the said Act, 52 Victoria, No. 2 2, namely, “The Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia”, shall henceforth be “The Perth Diocesan Trustees”, and all references in any Act of Parliament, Statute of Synod, deed, document, or writing of any kind to “The Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia”, shall be deemed and construed to be to “The Perth Diocesan Trustees”. And such change of name shall be registered and noted under the *Transfer of Land Act 1893* and the *Registration of Deeds Act 1856*, as the case may require, and on every certificate of title and other registered document affecting land in the name of the corporation free of charge.\n\n[Section 11 amended: No. 60 of 2006 s. 123.]\n\n##### 12. Transfer of property to Bunbury and Kalgoorlie Trustees authorised and confirmed\n\nThe Perth Diocesan Trustees may transfer and assure to the trustees of the respective Dioceses of Bunbury and Kalgoorlie, in their corporate name, all such real and personal estate as may have been or may hereafter be directed to be transferred to them respectively by any Statute of the Perth Diocesan Synod, and all conveyances, transfers, assignments, or other assurances of real or personal property already made and executed in pursuance of any Statute of the Perth Diocesan Synod by the Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia 7, to or for the use or benefit of the Bunbury Diocesan Trustees or the Kalgoorlie Diocesan Trustees, are hereby validated and confirmed, and shall vest in and be held by such trustees respectively in their corporate names as constituted by this Act, and “The Perth Diocesan Trustees” are hereby empowered to convey, transfer, assign, or otherwise assure to the trustees of the Northern Diocese in their corporate name, all such real and personal property as by virtue of any Statute of the Synod of the Diocese of Perth is to be transferred to the said Northern Diocese.\n\n##### 13. Bunbury Trustees may sell etc. certain lands free from trusts\n\n(1) The Bunbury Diocesan Trustees are hereby authorised and empowered, with the consent and subject to any statute of the Synod, to exercise any of the following powers in relation to the lands known as “Bunbury Building Lots, Nos. 221 and 298”, situate in the local government district of Bunbury.\n\n(a) To sell the said lands or any portion thereof with the buildings thereon, and to transfer or otherwise assure the same to a purchaser or purchasers freed and absolutely discharged from any trusts to which the said lands or any portion thereof may be subject whether declared by deed or otherwise.\n\n(b) To mortgage such lands or any portion thereof, and for the purpose of any security to assure the same to the mortgagee, freed and discharged from any such trusts as aforesaid.\n\n(c) To lease such lands or any portion thereof, notwithstanding such trusts for any term with or without a right of renewal or option of purchase and by way of building or improvement lease or otherwise, and subject to such covenants, conditions, and agreements as they may think fit.\n\n(2) The net moneys raised on the security, or by the sale of the said lands or any part thereof, shall be applied for or towards the building of a church in Bunbury, and a minister’s residence and other buildings in connection with such church or residence or for or towards the maintenance and repair of any such buildings or for or towards the endowment of the Cathedral as the Bunbury Diocesan Trustees may approve and direct.\n\n[Section 13 amended: No. 56 of 1956 s. 2; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4.]\n\n##### 14. Protection of purchasers and others\n\nNo purchaser, mortgagee, or lessee of any such lands shall be bound or concerned to inquire whether any power of sale, mortgage, or lease was duly and regularly made or exercised, or in anywise to see to the application of any purchase, mortgage, or other moneys, or to inquire into the necessity, regularity, or propriety of any such sale, mortgage, or lease, or be affected by notice that the same is or are irregular, unnecessary, or improper.\n\n![dline]()\n\nNotes\n\n1 This reprint is a compilation as at 4 September 2015 of the *Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918* and includes the amendments made by the other written laws referred to in the following table. The table also contains information about any reprint.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | **Number and year** | **Assent** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Church of England Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918* 9 | 34 of 1918 (9 Geo. V No. 24) | 24 Dec 1918 | 24 Dec 1918 |\n| *Church of England Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act Amendment Act 1956* | 56 of 1956 (5 Eliz. II No. 56) | 27 Dec 1956 | 27 Dec 1956 |\n| *Anglican Church of Australia Act 1976* s. 7 10 | 121 of 1976 | 1 Dec 1976 | 24 Aug 1981 (see s. 2(2) and *Gazette* 30 Jan 1981 p. 441) |\n| *Local Government (Consequential Amendments) Act 1996* s. 4 | 14 of 1996 | 28 Jun 1996 | 1 Jul 1996 (see s. 2) |\n| **Reprint of the *Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918* as at 3 May 2002** (includes amendments listed above) | | | |\n| *Land Information Authority Act 2006* s. 123 | 60 of 2006 | 16 Nov 2006 | 1 Jan 2007 (see s. 2(1) and *Gazette* 8 Dec 2006 p. 5369) |\n| **Reprint 2: The *Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918* as at 4 Sep 2015** (includes amendments listed above) | | | |\n\n\n2 52 Vict. No. 2 (1888). Now known as the *Anglican Church of Australia (Diocesan Trustees) Act 1888.*\n\n3 Now known as the *Anglican Church of Australia Lands Act 1914*.\n\n4 Under the *Anglican Church of Australia Constitution Act 1960* s. 5 a reference to “the Church of England in Western Australia” shall be construed as a reference to the “Church of England in Australia so far as it is in the State”. The name of the “Church of England” was changed to the “Anglican Church of Australia” by the *Anglican Church of Australia Act 1976* s. 7. This reference to the former name has not been changed due to its context.\n\n5 Repealed by the *Associations Incorporation Act 1987* s. 47.\n\n6 Under the *Anglican Church of Australia (Diocese of North West Australia) Act 1961* s. 5(2) a reference in any law of the State to The Trustees of the Northern Diocese shall be read as a reference to The Trustees of the Diocese of North West Australia.\n\n7 The name of this body is changed to “The Perth Diocesan Trustees” by s. 11 of this Act. This reference has not been changed due to its context.\n\n8 Formerly referred to the *Church of England Lands Act 1914* the short title of which was changed to *Anglican Church of Australia Lands Act 1914* by the *Anglican Church of Australia Act 1976* s. 7. The reference was changed under the *Reprints Act 1984* s. 7(3)(gb).\n\n9 Now known as the *Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918*; short title changed (see note under s. 1).\n\n10 Th*e Anglican Church of Australia Act 1976* s. 5 was a savings provision that is of no further effect.\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: incorporating trustees for new Anglican dioceses in Western Australia and facilitating property transfers as the church expanded regionally. The amendments over time (1956, 1976, 1996, 2006) have been limited to updating nomenclature (changing 'Church of England' to 'Anglican Church of Australia'), minor procedural updates, and technical land registration changes. The core scope—creating corporate bodies for church trustees and managing diocesan land divisions—has not expanded beyond the original 1918 intent."},"complexity_factors":["Short statute (14 sections, approximately 6 pages)","Minimal defined terms (only standard corporate terminology like 'corporation' and 'common seal')","Straightforward sequential structure without nested conditions","Heavy reliance on external references to other Acts (1888 Act, 1914 Act, Synod Statutes) but these are incorporated by reference rather than complex cross-referencing","One conditional provision in section 13(2) regarding use of sale proceeds, otherwise largely declaratory","Simple amendment pattern (inserting words into existing sections, name changes)","No exceptions to exceptions or deeply nested subsections"],"plain_english_summary":"This Western Australian law from 1918 deals with how the Anglican Church (formerly Church of England) holds and manages property across different regions of the state.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Creates separate legal bodies** for different church regions (called \"dioceses\"). Before this law, there was just one body covering all of Western Australia. This Act sets up separate corporations (legal entities) for Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, and the Northern Diocese, plus clarifies the existing Perth body.\n- **Fixes a legal technicality**. The Bunbury and Kalgoorlie trustees had been set up under a different law (the Associations Incorporation Act 1895), but there were doubts about whether this was legally proper. This Act dissolves those old setups and re-incorporates them properly under this specific Church legislation.\n- **Allows property transfers**. It lets the Perth trustees hand over land and assets to the new regional trustees as the church expands across the state.\n- **Gives specific powers over land**. It lets trustees sell, lease, or mortgage church land, including a special provision letting Bunbury trustees sell specific building lots free from any trust restrictions (with the money going to church buildings and the cathedral).\n- **Updates naming**. It changes the name of the original body from \"The Diocesan Trustees of the Church of England in Western Australia\" to \"The Perth Diocesan Trustees\" and ensures all old documents automatically refer to the new name.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- The Anglican Church dioceses of Perth, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie, and the Northern Diocese (now called North West Australia)\n- Anyone buying, leasing, or lending money secured against church property (the Act protects them from having to check if the church followed all its internal rules)\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis law recognises that the Anglican Church in WA had grown from one central organisation into four separate regional churches, each needing its own legal identity to own land, enter contracts, and manage finances. It ensures the church can operate effectively across a vast state while protecting people who deal with church property in good faith."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"Unauthenticated. Configure AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY or use a provider module. Learn more: https://ai-sdk.dev/unauthenticated-ai-gateway","source":"analysis-cron"},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed — the legislative text is inaccessible. No determination can be made about whether the Act's scope changed from its original intent over its 100+ year history."},"complexity_factors":["Legislative text is entirely unavailable — the source page has been removed from the WA legislation website","No content could be retrieved for meaningful complexity assessment","The Act's age (1918) suggests it may use archaic legal language and drafting conventions, which typically adds complexity","Trust and land law intersections are generally technical areas, but this cannot be confirmed without the text"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this is:** The Anglican Church of Australia Diocesan Trustees and Lands Act 1918 is a Western Australian law that deals with how the Anglican Church manages its property and land holdings in WA through appointed trustees (people legally responsible for managing assets on behalf of others).\n\n**The problem:** The actual text of this law is unavailable — the page on the Western Australian legislation website has been taken down due to system upgrades, so the full content cannot be analysed.\n\n**What we know from the title:** This Act, dating back to 1918, almost certainly:\n- Established or recognised a body of **diocesan trustees** (church-appointed officials who legally hold and manage land and property on behalf of the Anglican diocese)\n- Set rules about how Anglican Church land in Western Australia can be bought, sold, held, or transferred\n- Provided legal protections for church property\n\n**Who it affects:** Primarily the Anglican Church of Australia (Diocese of Perth and potentially other WA dioceses), their appointed trustees, and anyone dealing in property transactions involving Anglican Church land in WA.\n\n**Why it matters:** Without the actual legislative text, no reliable legal analysis can be provided. Anyone needing to rely on this Act — for example, in a property transaction involving Anglican Church land — should contact the Parliamentary Counsel's Office directly or consult a lawyer with access to the current version of the legislation."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act stays within its original, stated purpose: to incorporate diocesan trustees for the newly formed dioceses, validate prior transfers, extend the existing diocesan trustees’ land powers to the new corporations, and provide a mechanism for name‑change and registration. Later amendments largely updated names, administrative details and added a site‑specific power (the Bunbury lots) but did not convert the Act into a substantially different regulatory scheme. The core scope — property holding, transfer and management powers for diocesan trustees — remains the same as the Act’s original intent (see preamble; ss 2–13)."},"complexity_factors":["Short statute (14 operative sections) but several external cross‑references to older Acts (Anglican Church of Australia (Diocesan Trustees) Act 1888; Anglican Church of Australia Lands Act 1914; Transfer of Land Act 1893; Registration of Deeds Act 1856; Associations Incorporation Act 1895).","Conditional incorporation of the Northern Diocese trustees (s 5) — incorporation only when Synod organised.","Validation and dissolution mechanics: dissolving prior incorporation but validating past deeds and transfers (s 2, s 12).","Specific, property‑level exception for Bunbury Building Lots Nos. 221 and 298 with directed application of proceeds (s 13).","Multiple statutory conditions: trustees’ powers are repeatedly made subject to existing trusts and to Statutes/Orders of Synod (ss 7, 8, 10, 13), producing layered limits.","Protective clause for third parties that limits enquiry into regularity (s 14), which has broad practical effect though simple text.","Amendment history and name changes recorded in notes and reprints (amendments in 1956, 1976, 1996, 2006) — increases interpretive work for current application."],"plain_english_summary":"**What this law does, in plain English**\n\n- Creates (or re-creates) corporate trustee bodies for the Anglican dioceses in Western Australia so those diocesan trustees can hold, manage and deal with church land and property in the dioceses of Perth, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie and the Northern Diocese (Sections 2–6, 11).\n\n- Confirms and validates prior transfers and corporate acts done by the earlier trustee bodies even where those earlier incorporations are being dissolved (s 2, s 12).\n\n- Gives the diocesan trustee corporations the usual powers to hold property, sue and be sued, use a common seal and have perpetual succession (s 6), and extends specific land‑dealing powers (s 7). Those land powers include redeeming mortgages, granting building or repairing leases (with or without options to buy), and otherwise dealing with land subject to any existing trusts and subject to Synod rules (ss 7, 8, 10).\n\n- Applies the existing Diocesan Trustees Act (the 1888 Act) and the Anglican Church Lands Act 1914 to the newly incorporated trustee bodies, so they have the same statutory powers and obligations as the Perth trustees, subject to Synod statutes (ss 8, 10).\n\n- Changes the name of the existing statewide trustee corporation to “The Perth Diocesan Trustees” and requires that change to be registered on titles and other land documents without charge (s 11).\n\n- Authorises the Perth trustees to transfer land and property to the Bunbury, Kalgoorlie and (when formed) Northern diocesan trustees, and validates earlier transfers made under Synod statutes (s 12).\n\n- Gives a site‑specific power to the Bunbury trustees (for Bunbury Building Lots Nos. 221 and 298) to sell, mortgage or lease those lots free from any prior trusts, and directs how the net proceeds must be applied for church buildings, a minister’s residence, repairs or cathedral endowment (s 13). That power is exercisable with Synod consent and subject to Synod statutes.\n\n- Protects third‑party purchasers, mortgagees and lessees who deal with the trustees over such lands by saying they are not required to investigate the regularity of the trustees’ authority or the application of the money raised (s 14).\n\n**Who is affected**\n\n- The Perth, Bunbury, Kalgoorlie and Northern diocesan trustee corporations and their Synods (ss 2–6, 11–13). \n- Current and future owners of land vested in those trustees, including Crown‑granted land (s 10). \n- Third‑party buyers, mortgagees and lessees who deal with diocesan trustees (s 14). \n- Beneficiaries of any existing trusts over church land, because some powers allow land to be freed from trusts in particular cases (s 13).\n\n**Why it matters (mechanics and legal effects)**\n\n- Property governance: the Act creates a clear statutory vehicle for diocesan trustees to hold and manage church lands and to carry out transactions (ss 3–6, 8, 10). That centralises legal title in named corporations and gives them recognised statutory powers to deal with land.\n\n- Validation and certainty: the Act validates prior corporate acts and earlier transfers made under Synod statutes, reducing doubt about title and past transactions (s 2, s 12).\n\n- Transactionability of church land: by expressly allowing mortgages, sales and long leases (including building/improvement leases and options to purchase), the Act increases the commercial flexibility of church landholdings (s 7). For the two named Bunbury lots it goes further and permits sale or mortgage free from existing trusts with a statutory direction on how proceeds must be spent (s 13).\n\n- Third‑party protection: purchasers and financiers dealing with trustees are protected from having to investigate whether the trustees’ internal powers were validly exercised, which reduces transaction costs and title risk for third parties (s 14).\n\n**Official purpose claimed in the Act**\n\nThe preamble explains the purpose: when the State’s single diocese was split into new dioceses some property was intended to be vested in newly appointed diocesan trustees; there were doubts about incorporations under the general Associations Incorporation Act; the Synods wanted those diocesan trustee bodies incorporated under a dedicated statute and past transfers validated. The Act implements that by dissolving the prior incorporations, creating statutory corporations for the new dioceses, validating past dealings, and aligning the new bodies with existing diocesan trustee legislation (preamble; ss 2–5, 8, 12).\n\n**Practical trade‑offs, incentives and implementation considerations**\n\n- Who pays: the trustees (i.e. the dioceses) remain the custodians of land and will decide whether to sell, mortgage or lease. Where land is sold or mortgaged (notably the Bunbury lots), the Act prescribes how net proceeds are applied (s 13). The State waives registration fees for the corporate name change on titles (s 11), a small administrative cost to government.\n\n- Incentives and behaviour: the Act lowers transaction frictions for third parties (s 14) and gives trustees explicit authority to use property commercially (s 7). That can make church land easier to develop, finance or transfer subject to Synod rules. It also concentrates decision‑making about those assets in the trustee corporations and Synods.\n\n- Beneficiaries vs purchasers: by protecting purchasers and financiers from having to investigate trustees’ internal authority (s 14), the Act shifts risk away from buyers toward beneficiaries of any trusts or toward the trustees themselves. For the specific Bunbury lots the Act removes trust encumbrances for sale or mortgage (s 13), which benefits the purchasers and the diocese but alters the original trust constraints.\n\n- Compliance and discretion: most powers are exercisable subject to any Synod statutes and existing trusts (ss 7–8, 10, 13). That preserves internal church governance controls but also gives Synods meaningful discretion over whether and how powers are used.\n\n- Implementation risk: the statute relies on proper registration and internal Synod procedures to effect transfers and name changes (s 11, s 12). Where the Northern Diocese is not yet organised, its trustees are only incorporated once its Synod has been formed (s 5), so some powers are contingent.\n\n**Bottom line**\n\nMechanically, the Act establishes statutory diocesan trustee corporations, aligns them with existing diocesan trustee and church‑lands statutes, validates earlier transfers, empowers the trustees to deal commercially with land (including a specific free‑from‑trust sale power for named Bunbury lots), and shields third‑party purchasers and financiers from having to investigate the trustees’ internal authority. The trustees act subject to Synod statutes and any existing trusts unless a specific provision (s 13) removes trust encumbrances for named property."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918","history":"/api/acts/anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918/history","analysis":"/api/acts/anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/anglican-church-of-australia-diocesan-trustees-and-lands-act-1918/documents"}}