{"id":"nsw:act-1911-006","name":"Helensburgh Leases Act 1911","slug":"helensburgh-leases-act-1911","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"nsw","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"6 of 1911","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":112000,"registerId":"nsw-act-1911-006-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Name of Act","content":"#### 1 Name of Act\n\n1 Name of Act\n\n> This Act may be cited as the [Helensburgh Leases Act 1911](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1911-006).","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Land 500 feet below surface vested in Crown","content":"#### 2 Land 500 feet below surface vested in Crown\n\n2 Land 500 feet below surface vested in Crown\n\n> Any sale, lease, or other disposal made before the commencement of this Act by the Crown under the Crown Lands Acts of any lands within the village and suburban boundaries of Helensburgh West, and of homestead selection area number two hundred and fifty-eight, notified in the Gazette of the fourteenth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, in the parish of Heathcote, county of Cumberland, shall be deemed to have included the lands comprised therein to a depth from the surface of five hundred feet and no deeper. The part of such lands of a greater depth than five hundred feet shall be deemed to have been from the date of such sale, lease, or disposal Crown lands within the meaning of the Act 37 Victoria No 13, and the [Mining Act 1906](/view/pdf/asmade/act-1906-49).","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Payment of royalty","content":"#### 3 Payment of royalty\n\n3 Payment of royalty\n\n> Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Mining Acts, or any amendments thereof or in this Act, the amounts collected by the Crown for royalty upon coal that at the date of the passing of this Act lies beneath the surface of any lands which come within the provisions of this Act shall be paid over by the Crown to the person or persons who at the date of the collection of such royalty are the registered owners of the portion or portions directly overlying the coal upon which such royalty has been collected.","sortOrder":2}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: clarifying subsurface land ownership and royalty arrangements for specific parcels in Helensburgh. It has not expanded beyond this narrow, localised mining law purpose."},"complexity_factors":["Only 3 operative sections","No defined terms section","Minimal cross-referencing (only to Crown Lands Acts, Mining Act 1906, and Act 37 Victoria No 13)","Simple conditional logic (if depth > 500 feet, then Crown land)","Single geographic limitation (specific parish, county, and Gazette notification)","Straightforward royalty payment mechanism with no exceptions or nested conditions"],"plain_english_summary":"This is a short, historical law from 1911 that deals with land ownership and mining rights in Helensburgh, a town in New South Wales.\n\n**What it does:**\n\n*   **Splits land ownership by depth:** For specific land in Helensburgh West and a nearby homestead selection area, any sale or lease made by the government before 1911 is deemed to have only covered the top 500 feet of soil. Everything deeper than 500 feet automatically became Crown (government) land available for mining.\n*   **Redirects mining royalties:** If the government collects royalties on coal found beneath this land, that money must be paid to whoever owns the surface land directly above the coal at the time the royalty is collected.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n\n*   Surface landowners in the specified Helensburgh areas who want to know who owns what lies deep beneath their property.\n*   Coal miners and mining companies operating in the area.\n*   The NSW government (the Crown), which manages mining royalties.\n\n**Why it matters:**\n\nThis law solved a specific historical problem. Before 1911, it wasn't clear whether early land sales included deep underground mineral rights. This Act clarified that the government kept those deep rights (for coal mining) while ensuring surface landowners still got paid royalties if coal was extracted from beneath their property. It's a classic example of Australian law separating \"surface rights\" (owning the land you walk on) from \"subsurface rights\" (owning the minerals deep underground)."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"Yes. The Act narrows the scope of earlier Crown disposals by deeming them to extend only to 500 feet from the surface and treats deeper strata as Crown land (s2). It also reallocates royalty receipts by directing the Crown to pay collected coal royalties to the registered surface owner at the time of collection (s3), changing who benefits from subterranean resources."},"complexity_factors":["Very short instrument with only two substantive operational provisions (ss 2–3).","Creates a vertical split in property rights at a fixed depth (500 feet) rather than by parcel-by-parcel adjudication (s2).","Requires administrative royalty collection and remittance by the Crown to registered surface owners at the time of collection, creating transactional timing issues (s3).","Interacts directly with prior Crown Lands Acts and the Mining Act 1906, so legal effect depends on those statutes (s2).","Retroactive deeming of past disposals to a reduced depth alters incumbent title scope and may require record-checking and administrative updating (s2, s3)."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act treats any Crown sale, lease or disposal of land within specified parts of Helensburgh as covering only the upper 500 feet; all strata deeper than 500 feet are declared Crown land (s2). It also requires the Crown to pay any coal royalties it collects from beneath those lands to whoever is the registered surface owner at the time the royalty is collected (s3). The Act reallocates deep subterranean ownership to the Crown and creates a mechanism for passing mining royalties to surface title holders."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Based on available metadata, the Act has remained completely unchanged since its commencement on 12 July 1911. There is no evidence of any amendment, expansion, or narrowing of its original scope. It appears to have operated exactly as originally enacted for over 110 years."},"complexity_factors":["The actual substantive text of the Act is not available in the provided content — only metadata and navigation elements are present, limiting full analysis","The Act appears to be a narrow, single-purpose piece of legislation with a highly localised geographic scope (Helensburgh only)","No amendments have been made since 1911, suggesting minimal legislative complexity has been added over time","Historical land law concepts from 1911 may be unfamiliar to modern readers, adding minor interpretive complexity"],"plain_english_summary":"The Helensburgh Leases Act 1911 is a narrowly targeted, unamended NSW law governing certain land lease arrangements in Helensburgh dating from the town’s early development. It likely underpins a small number of long‑standing lease or title arrangements—probably linked to historic Crown land subdivision—and today only affects a handful of property holders in that locality. Its main interest is as an example of an old, locally specific statute that either still sustains historic rights or has simply survived repeal efforts."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/helensburgh-leases-act-1911","history":"/api/acts/helensburgh-leases-act-1911/history","analysis":"/api/acts/helensburgh-leases-act-1911/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/helensburgh-leases-act-1911/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/helensburgh-leases-act-1911/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/helensburgh-leases-act-1911/documents"}}