{"id":"standard-survey-marks-act-1924","name":"Standard Survey Marks Act 1924","slug":"standard-survey-marks-act-1924","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":110291,"registerId":"wa-standard-survey-marks-act-1924-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Standard Survey Marks Act 1924","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nStandard Survey Marks Act 1924\n\nWestern Australia\n\nStandard Survey Marks Act 1924\n\nContents\n\n1. Short title 1\n\n2. Terms used 1\n\n3. Standard surveys may be made 1\n\n4. Powers to enable standard surveys and erecting survey marks 2\n\n5. Local governments to be notified of intention to place survey marks 2\n\n6. Survey marks to be preserved 3\n\n7. Regulations 4\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 5\n\nDefined terms\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nStandard Survey Marks Act 1924\n\nAn Act to enable the Surveyor General to erect standard survey marks, to provide for their protection, and for other purposes incidental thereto.\n\n##### 1. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Standard Survey Marks Act 1924* 1.\n\n##### 2. Terms used\n\nIn this Act —\n\n  authorised land officer has the meaning given by the *Land Administration Act 1997*.\n\n  survey mark means any cairn, beacon, structure, post, peg, block, plug, tube, pipe, spike, pole, or other mark of whatsoever material composed, placed, sunk, or set up as a standard survey mark by the authority of the Surveyor General or, after the commencement of section 46 of the *Acts Amendment (Land Administration) Act 1987* 1, of an authorised land officer under the powers contained in this Act.\n\n  surveyor means a surveyor licensed under the *Licensed Surveyors Act 1909*.\n\n[Section 2 amended: No. 126 of 1987 s. 46; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 31 of 1997 s. 141.]\n\n##### 3. Standard surveys may be made\n\n(1) An authorised land officer may cause a standard survey to be made in any locality for the purpose of establishing standard survey marks.\n\n(2) Plans representing all such surveys shall be retained by the Western Australian Land Information Authority established by the *Land Information Authority Act 2006* section 5 and certified copies supplied to the Registrar of Titles, the chief executive officer of the department principally assisting in the administration of the *Public Works Act 1902*, and the local government.\n\n[Section 3 amended: No. 126 of 1987 s. 47; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 60 of 2006 s. 159; No. 19 of 2010 s. 51.]\n\n##### 4. Powers to enable standard surveys and erecting survey marks\n\nAn authorised land officer, or any surveyor specially authorised by him, —\n\n(a) may enter and re‑enter from time to time upon any land, or any public or private road, street or way, with such assistants as he thinks fit, for the purpose of making a standard survey; and\n\n(b) may take materials from, or dig and bore into any land, road, street or way, so as to ascertain the nature of the soil, and may mark building, wall, or fence for the purpose of making a standard survey; and\n\n(c) may fix or set up thereon or therein any standard survey mark which he considers advisable; and\n\n(d) may do all things necessary for carrying out such survey in accordance with any regulations in force for the time being, or for any inspection, renewal, repair, or alteration of any standard survey mark.\n\n[Section 4 amended: No. 126 of 1987 s. 48.]\n\n##### 5. Local governments to be notified of intention to place survey marks\n\nWhenever practicable, reasonable notice shall be given by an authorised land officer, or any surveyor authorised by him, to the local government of the intention to place standard survey marks in the roads, streets, or ways of any district.\n\n[Section 5 amended: No. 126 of 1987 s. 49; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4.]\n\n##### 6. Survey marks to be preserved\n\n(1) When, under the powers contained in this Act, the Surveyor General or, after the commencement of section 50 of the *Acts Amendment (Land Administration) Act 1987* 1, an authorised land officer has caused standard survey marks to be placed in any road, street, or way for the permanent marking of the survey thereof so that the position of the corner of any road, street, or way may be readily found for the alignment of such road, street, or way, or for the purpose of locating the position of any allotment, or for any other purpose, the local government for the time being shall protect and preserve such standard survey marks as aforesaid, and shall not destroy, mutilate, deface, alter, or take away any such marks as aforesaid without the written authority of an authorised land officer.\n\n(2) Every person who, without the authority of an authorised land officer, destroys, mutilates, defaces, takes away, or alters the position of any standard survey marks, or who obstructs any surveyor in carrying out any standard survey, shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding $40.\n\n[Section 6 amended: No. 113 of 1965 s. 8(1); No. 126 of 1987 s. 50; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4.]\n\n##### 7. Regulations\n\nThe Governor may make regulations for the purposes of this Act.\n\n[**8.** Omitted under the Reprints Act 1984 s. 7(4)(f).]\n\n![dline]()\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Standard Survey Marks Act 1924* 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| *Standard Survey Marks Act 1924* | 8 of 1924 (15 Geo. V No. 8) | 25 Nov 1924 | 25 Nov 1924 |\n| *Decimal Currency Act 1965* | 113 of 1965 | 21 Dec 1965 | Act other than s. 4-9: 21 Dec 1965 (see s. 2(1));   s. 4-9: 14 Feb 1966 (see s. 2(2)) |\n| *Acts Amendment (Land Administration) Act 1987* Pt. X | 126 of 1987 | 31 Dec 1987 | 16 Sep 1988 (see s. 2 and *Gazette* 16 Sep 1988 p. 3637) |\n| **Reprint of the *Standard Survey Marks Act 1924* as at 13 Feb 1989** (includes amendments listed above) | | | |\n| *Local Government (Consequential Amendments) Act 1996* s. 4 | 14 of 1996 | 28 Jun 1996 | 1 Jul 1996 (see s. 2) |\n| *Acts Amendment (Land Administration) Act 1997* s. 141 | 31 of 1997 | 3 Oct 1997 | 30 Mar 1998 (see s. 2 and *Gazette* 27 Mar 1998 p. 1765) |\n| **Reprint 2: The *Standard Survey Marks Act 1924* as at 5 Sep 2003** (includes amendments listed above) | | | |\n| *Land Information Authority Act 2006* s. 159 | 60 of 2006 | 16 Nov 2006 | 1 Jan 2007 (see s. 2(1) and *Gazette* 8 Dec 2006 p. 5369) |\n| *Standardisation of Formatting Act 2010* s. 51 | 19 of 2010 | 28 Jun 2010 | 11 Sep 2010 (see s. 2(b) and *Gazette* 10 Sep 2010 p. 4341) |\n| **Reprint 3: The *Standard Survey Marks Act 1924* as at 18 Sep 2015** (includes amendments listed above) | | | |\n\n\nDefined terms\n\n*[This is a list of terms defined and the provisions where they are defined. The list is not part of the law.]*\n\n**Defined term Provision(s)**\n\nauthorised land officer 2\n\nsurvey mark 2\n\nsurveyor 2\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act’s core purpose — authorising the placing and protection of permanent standard survey marks — remains the same as when first enacted. Later amendments mostly updated who may exercise the powers (adding authorised land officers alongside the Surveyor General), modernised institutional references (for example to the Land Information Authority), and adjusted minor procedural details. Those are administrative and implementation updates rather than a substantive expansion of the Act’s original subject‑matter or policy objective."},"complexity_factors":["Short Act: seven operative sections only (plus omitted section)","Three defined terms in the interpretation section (authorised land officer; survey mark; surveyor)","Direct cross-references to multiple other Acts (Land Administration Act 1997; Licensed Surveyors Act 1909; Land Information Authority Act 2006; Public Works Act 1902) which shift some substantive detail outside this Act","A small number of conditional permissions (authorised land officer or surveyor authorised by them) rather than extensive nested exceptions","Simple, standalone offence and penalty (s.6(2)) but with an archaic monetary maximum rather than modern penalty units"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this Act does (mechanics)\n\n- Gives the Surveyor General’s role (and, since later amendments, an \"authorised land officer\") the legal power to carry out \"standard surveys\" and to place permanent survey marks (for example cairns, posts, tubes, spikes) in roads, streets, ways or on land (s.2, s.3, s.4).\n- Allows those authorised officers or a surveyor they specially authorise to enter land and roads, take materials, dig or bore to inspect the soil, mark buildings/walls/fences, erect or alter survey marks, and do other things necessary to make or maintain the marks (s.4).\n- Requires plans of those surveys to be kept by the Western Australian Land Information Authority and for certified copies to be supplied to the Registrar of Titles, the chief executive officer of the department mainly assisting with the Public Works Act, and the relevant local government (s.3).\n- Requires, where practicable, that the local government be given reasonable notice before survey marks are placed in its roads/streets/ways (s.5).\n- Imposes a legal duty on local governments to protect and preserve standard survey marks placed for permanent marking of road/allotment positions; local governments must not destroy, deface or remove such marks without written authority of an authorised land officer (s.6(1)).\n- Creates a criminal penalty (on summary conviction) — up to $40 — for anyone who, without authority, destroys, damages, moves or obstructs survey marks or obstructs a surveyor carrying out a standard survey (s.6(2)).\n- Allows the Governor to make regulations to implement the Act (s.7).\n\nWho this affects\n\n- Authorised land officers and surveyors: who can enter land, carry out surveys, and place survey marks (ss.2, 4).\n- Local governments: who must be notified (s.5), receive certified plans (s.3), and have a statutory duty to protect and preserve marks (s.6(1)).\n- Landowners and occupiers and users of roads/streets/ways: whose land or roads may be entered, dug into, or have marks placed on them (s.4).\n- Land administration agencies: the WA Land Information Authority, Registrar of Titles, and the department assisting with public works, which receive and hold survey plans (s.3).\n\nWhy it matters (stated purpose and practical effects)\n\n- The Act’s stated purpose is to enable accurate, permanent marking of survey points for road alignment and allotment location. That produces durable reference points for title boundaries, road alignment, and public works (long-term land information and infrastructure planning) (s.3, s.6).\n\nAnalyst’s practical test of that purpose — costs, incentives and risks\n\n- Who pays and who decides: The authorised land officer (a government official under the Land Administration Act) controls when and where surveys and marks are placed (ss.2, 4). The direct cost of performing the surveys and erecting marks is borne by the responsible public authority. Local governments bear the ongoing duty and practical cost of preserving the marks once placed (s.6(1)).\n\n- Compliance burden and administrative work: The Act centralises survey records with the Land Information Authority and requires distribution of certified copies to several public offices, creating modest record‑keeping and coordination tasks (s.3). Local governments must monitor and protect marks on their roads, adding inspection/maintenance duties (s.6(1)).\n\n- Bureaucratic discretion and decision-making: The Act vests broad operational discretion in authorised land officers (and surveyors authorised by them) to enter land, take materials, dig, and set marks (s.4). Those powers are subject to any regulations the Governor makes, but the Act itself does not set detailed constraints or a compensation scheme for landowners.\n\n- Impact on private landowners and developers: Private owners can be entered upon and have survey marks placed or soil sampled without the Act specifying a compensation process (s.4). That creates the risk of physical disturbance or damage with limited statutory guidance on remedy in this Act — other statutes or administrative arrangements may provide compensation, but it is not set out here.\n\n- Enforcement and deterrence: The criminal penalty for unauthorised interference with marks is specified (s.6(2)) but is a nominal amount (up to $40 as written). That low monetary ceiling reduces the Act’s financial deterrent effect and may rely more on administrative enforcement and local government care.\n\n- Trade-offs and opportunity costs: The Act prioritises long‑term public utility in fixing permanent reference marks (useful for titles, roads and public works) over strict property autonomy at the location stage. The trade-off is potential short‑term disruption to landowners and an administrative burden on local governments to preserve marks.\n\n- Implementation risks and omissions: The Act does not itself set out a compensation mechanism, standards for how intrusive works must be carried out, timetables for notice beyond \"reasonable notice\" where practicable, or modernised penalty units. Disputes about damage, access, or timing therefore depend on other laws, administrative policy, or negotiation. The Governor’s power to make regulations (s.7) is the avenue for filling operational detail.\n\nNet effect in simple terms\n\n- The Act legally enables public survey officers to place permanent survey marks, centralises the survey records with the state Land Information Authority, and places a statutory duty on local governments to protect those marks. It creates entry and sampling powers that can affect private land without setting a compensation scheme within this Act, and it uses a small monetary penalty to discourage unauthorised interference (ss.2–7)."},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation has remained tightly focused on its original purpose of enabling the Surveyor General to erect and protect standard survey marks. While amendments have updated institutional references (replacing 'Surveyor General' with 'authorised land officer' in some provisions, updating the body that retains survey plans, and modernising terminology), these are administrative updates rather than scope expansion. The core functions—placing marks, protecting them, and penalising interference—remain unchanged since 1924."},"complexity_factors":["Only 7 operative sections (one omitted)","3 defined terms in a straightforward interpretation section","Minimal cross-referencing—only references to update institutional names (Land Administration Act 1997, Land Information Authority Act 2006, etc.)","Simple conditional logic: only one offence provision with a flat penalty","No nested exceptions or complex procedural requirements","Short length (approximately 4 pages of substantive content)","Clear purpose statement in the long title"],"plain_english_summary":"This Western Australian law from 1924 gives the Surveyor General (and later, authorised land officers) the power to place permanent survey marks—like pegs, posts, beacons, or other markers—on public and private land to create a reliable reference system for land surveys.\n\n**What it does:**\n- Allows authorised officers to enter land, roads, and streets to conduct surveys and install survey marks\n- Lets them dig, bore, and take materials to check soil conditions and mark structures\n- Requires local councils to protect these survey marks and not remove or damage them without written permission\n- Makes it an offence (with a fine up to $40) for anyone to damage, move, or interfere with survey marks without authority, or to obstruct surveyors\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- **Landowners and occupiers**: Must allow authorised surveyors onto their property to place marks\n- **Local governments**: Must protect survey marks in their areas and are notified before marks are placed in roads or streets\n- **Surveyors**: Licensed professionals who can be authorised to conduct these surveys\n- **General public**: Cannot interfere with survey marks\n\n**Why it matters:**\nSurvey marks are the invisible backbone of property boundaries. They ensure that when someone buys land, builds a fence, or constructs a road, everyone agrees on exactly where the boundaries are. Without protected reference points, land disputes would be far more common and costly."},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Insufficient data was retrieved to assess whether the scope of the Act changed from its original intent. No legislative text was available for analysis. Based on general knowledge, the Act has remained relatively focused on its original purpose of protecting standard survey marks since 1924, though amendments over the decades may have updated enforcement provisions."},"complexity_factors":["Insufficient legislative text was retrieved to perform a meaningful complexity analysis","Based on general knowledge, the Act is historically narrow in scope and relatively short","Deals with a single, well-defined subject matter (survey marks) with limited cross-referencing to other legislation","Age of the Act (1924) may mean archaic drafting language, but overall provisions are typically straightforward"],"plain_english_summary":"The Standard Survey Marks Act 1924 protects officially placed survey markers used to define land boundaries and reference points in Western Australia. It makes removing, damaging, or interfering with these marks an offence and places obligations on those who work near them.\n\nThis matters to landowners, developers, licensed surveyors and anyone doing earthworks or construction, because tampering with marks can create criminal liability and lead to costly boundary disputes."},"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"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/standard-survey-marks-act-1924","history":"/api/acts/standard-survey-marks-act-1924/history","analysis":"/api/acts/standard-survey-marks-act-1924/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/standard-survey-marks-act-1924/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/standard-survey-marks-act-1924/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/standard-survey-marks-act-1924/documents"}}