{"id":"ararat-land-act-1926","name":"Ararat Land Act 1926","slug":"ararat-land-act-1926","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"vic","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":173247,"registerId":"vic-ararat-land-act-1926-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Ararat Land Act 1926","content":"Version No. 002\n\n**Ararat Land Act 1926**\n\n**No. 3484 of 1926**\n\nVersion as at  \n1 June 2019\n\n**table of provisions**\n\n*Section Page*\n\n1 Short title 3\n\n2 Revocation of any Order in Council reserving land in Schedule 3\n\n3 Re-vesting of land in His Majesty 3\n\n4 Society to maintain and protect graves 3\n\nSchedule 4\n\nEndnotes 5\n\n1 General information 5\n\n2 Table of Amendments 7\n\n3 Amendments Not in Operation 8\n\n4 Explanatory details 9\n\n**Version No.** **002**\n\n**Ararat Land Act 1926**\n\n**No. 3484 of 1926**\n\nVersion as at  \n1 June 2019\n\nAn Act to revoke the Reservation of certain Land situate in the Township of Ararat as a Site for the Interment of the Dead and for other purposes.\n\n**Preamble**\n\nWHEREAS by a notification dated the thirty-first day of August One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one published in the Government Gazette of the same date and on various dates thereafter it was notified in pursuance of the Act 24 Victoria No. 117 intituled \"An Act for regulating the Sale of Crown Lands and for other purposes\" that upon the expiration of one month from the date of the said notification it was the intention of the Governor in Council to permanently reserve inter alia the land described in the said notification and in the Schedule to this Act which land was in the said notification referred to as \"The old burial ground in the township of Ararat, parish of Ararat and county of Ripon\":\n\nAND WHEREAS the said land was used as a place of interment for the dead:\n\nAND WHEREAS by an Order in Council dated the sixth day of March One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five the Governor in Council placed the said land under the control of the Trustees of the Ararat Public Cemetery:\n\nAND WHEREAS the said land is not used for the interment of the dead:\n\nAND WHEREAS (with the exception of the remains of two deceased persons) all known human remains interred therein have been exhumed therefrom and reinterred:\n\nAND WHEREAS the said land in contiguous to certain land in the occupation of the society known as the Ararat Agricultural Horticultural and Pastoral Society portion of which last-mentioned land was by Order in Council of the sixteenth day of February One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three temporarily reserved as a site for show-yards for the exhibition of stock and produce in connexion with the said society therein described as the Ararat Agricultural Society and the remaining portion of which last-mentioned land was by Order in Council of the twenty-second day of December One thousand nine hundred and two temporarily reserved from sale as a site for show-yards in addition to and adjoining the site temporarily reserved therefor by the said Order of the sixteenth day of February One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three:\n\nAND WHEREAS the said society has applied to have the land described in the Schedule to this Act added to the aforesaid land now in its occupation for the purposes aforesaid:\n\nAND WHEREAS the said society has agreed to surround the graves of deceased persons whose remains have not been exhumed as aforesaid with fences and to maintain such fences in a proper state of repair and otherwise properly to protect such graves:\n\nAND WHEREAS it is expedient that the land described in the said Schedule should be reserved pursuant to the Land Acts as a site for the exhibition of stock and produce:\n\n**BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same as follows (that is to say):**\n\n\t1 Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the **Ararat Land Act 1926**.\n\n\t2 Revocation of any Order in Council reserving land in Schedule\n\nAny Order in Council reserving the land described in the Schedule to this Act as a site for the interment of the dead is hereby revoked and no further interments shall be made therein.\n\n\t3 Re-vesting of land in His Majesty\n\nThe land described in the said Schedule—\n\n(a) is hereby re-vested in His Majesty freed and discharged from all trusts limitations and restrictions whatsoever;\n\n(b) shall be deemed to be and may be dealt with as unalienated land of the Crown; and\n\n(c) may pursuant to the Land Acts be reserved as a site for show-yards for the exhibition of stock and produce.\n\n\t4 Society to maintain and protect graves\n\nThe Ararat Agricultural Horticultural and Pastoral Society shall to the satisfaction of the Minister surround the graves of those deceased persons whose remains have been interred in the land described in the Schedule to this Act but have not been exhumed therefrom with fences and maintain such fences in a proper state of repair and otherwise properly protect such graves.\n\nSchedule\n\n*Description of The Old Burial Ground in the township of Ararat, parish of Ararat, county of Ripon* (vide Government Gazette of the 31st August, 1861, page 1673)\n\nTwo acres one rood thirty-five perches: Commencing at the south-east angle, bearing from the north-west angle of the hospital reserve S. 0° 16′ W. twenty-seven links; thence S. 73° 5′ W. five chains forty links; thence S. 23° 19′ E. four chains thirty-eight links; bounded on the east by a line gearing N. 1° 30′ W. four chains eighty links; thence on the north by a line bearing S. 88° 30′ W. five chains fifteen links; thence on the west by a line bearing S. 1° 30′ E. four chains eighty links; thence on the south by a line bearing N. 88° 30′ E. five chains fifteen links to the point of commencement.\n\n\n\nEndnotes\n\n1 General information\n\nSee [www.legislation.vic.gov.au](http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au) for Victorian Bills, Acts and current Versions of legislation and up-to-date legislative information.\n\nThe **Ararat Land Act 1926** was assented to on 23 December 1926 and came into operation on 23 December 1926.\n\nINTERPRETATION OF LEGISLATION ACT 1984 (ILA)\n\nStyle changes\n\nSection 54A of the ILA authorises the making of the style changes set out in Schedule 1 to that Act.\n\nReferences to ILA s. 39B\n\nSidenotes which cite ILA s. 39B refer to section 39B of the ILA which provides that where an undivided section or clause of a Schedule is amended by the insertion of one or more subsections or subclauses, the original section or clause becomes subsection or subclause (1) and is amended by the insertion of the expression \"(1)\" at the beginning of the original section or clause.\n\nInterpretation\n\nAs from 1 January 2001, amendments to section 36 of the ILA have the following effects:\n\n• Headings\n\nAll headings included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Act. Any heading inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Act. This includes headings to Parts, Divisions or Subdivisions in a Schedule; sections; clauses; items; tables; columns; examples; diagrams; notes or forms. See section 36(1A)(2A).\n\n• Examples, diagrams or notes\n\nAll examples, diagrams or notes included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 form part of that Act. Any examples, diagrams or notes inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, form part of that Act. See section 36(3A).\n\n• Punctuation\n\nAll punctuation included in an Act which is passed on or after 1 January 2001 forms part of that Act. Any punctuation inserted in an Act which was passed before 1 January 2001, by an Act passed on or after 1 January 2001, forms part of that Act. See section 36(3B).\n\n• Provision numbers\n\nAll provision numbers included in an Act form part of that Act, whether inserted in the Act before, on or after 1 January 2001. Provision numbers include section numbers, subsection numbers, paragraphs and subparagraphs. See section 36(3C).\n\n• Location of \"legislative items\"\n\nA \"legislative item\" is a penalty, an example or a note. As from 13 October 2004, a legislative item relating to a provision of an Act is taken to be at the foot of that provision even if it is preceded or followed by another legislative item that relates to that provision. For example, if a penalty at the foot of a provision is followed by a note, both of these legislative items will be regarded as being at the foot of that provision. See section 36B.\n\n• Other material\n\nAny explanatory memorandum, table of provisions, endnotes, index and other material printed after the Endnotes does not form part of an Act.  \nSee section 36(3)(3D)(3E).\n\n2 Table of Amendments\n\nThere are no amendments made to the **Ararat Land Act 1926** by Acts and subordinate instruments.\n\n3 Amendments Not in Operation\n\nThere are no amendments which were Not in Operation at the date of this publication.\n\n4 Explanatory details\n\nNo entries at date of publication.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"No scope change can be assessed from the materials provided. The document contains only version metadata and no substantive provisions. The Act appears to remain as originally made, with no amendments noted in the version history."},"complexity_factors":["Insufficient legislative text provided — only metadata and version history were supplied, making substantive analysis impossible","Highly localised and specific in scope, suggesting limited and narrow provisions","Age of the Act (1926) may mean archaic drafting language if full text were available","Interaction with subsequent Victorian land legislation (e.g., Land Act 1958) may add interpretive complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"A very old (1926) Victorian Act concerning specific Crown land in and around Ararat. It likely governs reservation, sale or transfer and title/tenure issues for particular parcels, so it chiefly affects local landowners, councils or government bodies with interests in those lands. It matters only to a narrow group and remains technically in force, but the provided record lacks the Act’s substantive text so its precise effects can’t be confirmed here."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This legislation has remained exactly as intended since 1926. It was always meant to be a narrow, one-off statute dealing with a specific 2-acre parcel of land in Ararat. There is no evidence of scope creep — the Act has never been amended and continues to serve only its original purpose of converting a disused burial ground to agricultural show-grounds while protecting two remaining graves."},"complexity_factors":["Very short statute (only 4 operative sections plus a Schedule)","No defined terms section — all terms are used in their ordinary meaning","No cross-references to other legislation except general reference to 'the Land Acts'","Simple linear structure with no conditional logic or exceptions","Single purpose legislation dealing with one specific parcel of land","Preamble is lengthy but purely historical/descriptive rather than creating legal complexity","Schedule contains only a land description using historical surveying terms (chains, links, perches) which are archaic but not legally complex"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a short, specific law from 1926 that deals with a piece of land in Ararat, Victoria. Here's what it does:\n\n**The problem:** There was an old burial ground (cemetery) in Ararat that wasn't being used for burials anymore. Most of the bodies had been moved elsewhere, but two graves remained. The land was sitting unused.\n\n**The solution:** The law does three main things:\n- **Cancels the cemetery status** — It revokes (cancels) the previous government order that had set aside this land as a burial ground, and bans any new burials there.\n- **Hands the land back to the Crown** — The land goes back to being government-owned land (\"His Majesty\" refers to the Crown/government), free of any previous restrictions. It can now be used for other purposes.\n- **Gives it to the agricultural society** — The land can be reserved for the Ararat Agricultural Horticultural and Pastoral Society to use as show-yards for agricultural exhibitions (like a country show with livestock and produce displays).\n\n**The catch:** The agricultural society must fence and maintain the two remaining graves to protect them.\n\n**Why it matters:** This is an example of how old, unused cemetery land can be repurposed for community use while still respecting the few remaining burials. It shows how specific parcels of land get transferred between different uses through dedicated legislation."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act changes the land's scope from a reserved burial ground (as recited in the preamble and original 1861 notification) to Crown land available to be reserved as show-yards for the Ararat Agricultural Horticultural and Pastoral Society (ss 2–3). It replaces the prior interment trust with a new use while imposing protective maintenance obligations on the Society for remaining graves (s 4)."},"complexity_factors":["Short, focused Act with a single property-use change (ss 1–3) — reduces overall complexity.","Legal re-vesting and discharge of prior trusts alters title and removes historical limitations (s 3(a)–(b)).","Enables re-reservation under the Land Acts, creating interaction with broader land-reservation regime (s 3(c)).","Ministerial standard of approval for grave protection introduces administrative discretion and potential compliance assessment (s 4).","Obligations placed on a private society to fence and maintain graves impose ongoing compliance and cost on that body (s 4).","Historical metes-and-bounds schedule requires technical surveying interpretation for practical implementation (Schedule).","Revocation of prior Orders in Council requires locating and reconciling earlier instruments and gazette notices described in the preamble and s 2."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act cancels the Crown reservation of a former burial ground in Ararat, re-vests the described parcel in the Crown free of prior trusts, and enables it to be reserved under the Land Acts as show-yards for the Ararat Agricultural Horticultural and Pastoral Society (ss 2–3). It prohibits further interments and records that two burials remain unexhumed. Mechanically, the Society may expand its exhibition site but must, to the Minister’s satisfaction, fence and maintain any remaining graves (s4)."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"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"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/ararat-land-act-1926","history":"/api/acts/ararat-land-act-1926/history","analysis":"/api/acts/ararat-land-act-1926/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/ararat-land-act-1926/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/ararat-land-act-1926/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/ararat-land-act-1926/documents"}}