Land Use

An understanding of the use of the land, and the management practices within a land use category, provides valuable information about the reasons for change in the condition of our natural resources.

Approximately 57% of Victoria is freehold agricultural land, while around 34% of the state is public land, consisting of National and State Parks, Forests and Declared Water Supply Catchments.

Land Use and Land Tenure
Two basic land tenures exist in Victoria, freehold land (private) and public land. Each can be divided into a range of broad land uses as shown on this map.

Land Use in 1944
In 1944 the State and Regional Boundaries Committee produced an Atlas of maps covering Victoria's Land Use, Population, Natural Resources etc. Here are presented a number of the maps showing Land Use across Victoria in 1944.

Satellite Image of Victoria
The satellite image shows Victoria's land use in 1993, using Landsat 5.

Adoption of Best Management Practices

The Land Use Impact Model (LUIM)
This report describes the evolution and capability of a land use impact model (LUIM) used in the Department of Primary Industries, Victoria.

Historical Geography and Landscape Change
These pages describe the Historical Geography and Landscape Change in the Costerfield District

Related Links

Australian Agriculture Assessment 2001 - information about Australian agriculture; agriculture profile; changing face of agriculture; landscape balances; nutrient management; soil acidification; soil erosion and nutrient loads. This information is part of the Australian Natural Resources Atlas website (external link)

Information on irrigation in Australia - the extent of irrigation and national challenges - on the Australian Natural Resources Atlas website (external link). Includes a Victorian overview.

The Victorian Heritage Register On-line website (external link) provides a comprehensive listing of Victoria's most significant places, objects and historic shipwrecks. The Heritage Inventory lists all known historic archaeological sites and relics.

The Planning Schemes Online website (external link) provides access to the approved planning schemes for the 78 Local Government and for the 3 special planning areas in the State of Victoria. It enables viewing of land use provisions and zoning maps.

Information on the following Agricultural Industries in Australia can be found on the Australian Natural Resources Atlas website

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Australia (AFFA) website provides links to a range of documents related to mapping land use and management in Australia (including: catchment scale land use mapping program, land use mapping specifications and publications, mapping land management practices and the Australian Land Use and Management Classification - ALUM) (external link)

Landuse change, intensity and diversity in Australia. Information on the Australian Natural Resources Atlas website (external link)

The Rural Land Use Change Conference Proceedings (Melbourne, August 2002) is available on the DSE website (external link). Please note, to view the information PDF requires the use of a PDF reader. This can be installed for free from the Adobe website (external link).