Australian Capital Territory
Enclosed Lands Protection Act 1943 
A1943-5
Republication No 1 (RI)
Effective:  1 December 1989 – 28 November 1994
Republication date of printed version: 30 June 1991
Reissued electronically:  23 September 2013
Last amendment made by A1989-23
(republication for initial republication since self-government)

Unauthorised version prepared by ACT Parliamentary Counsel’s Office

About this republication
The republished law
This is a republication of the Enclosed Lands Protection Act 1943 effective from 1 December 1989 to 28 November 1994.
Kinds of republications
The Parliamentary Counsel’s Office prepares 2 kinds of republications of ACT laws (see the ACT legislation register at www.legislation.act.gov.au):
•	authorised republications to which the Legislation Act 2001 applies
•	unauthorised republications.
The status of this republication appears on the bottom of each page.

Australian Capital Territory

enclosed lands protection act 1943
Reprinted as at 30 June 1991
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section
	1.	Short title
	2.	Repeal of State Act
	3.	Interpretation
	4.	Penalty for unlawful entry upon enclosed lands
	5.	Penalty for leaving gate open
	6.	Requirement to furnish name etc.
	7.	Owner may destroy goats

An Act relating to Protection of Enclosed Lands from Intrusion and Trespass
Short title
1.  This Act may be cited as the Enclosed Lands Protection Act 1943.1
Repeal of State Act
2.  The Inclosed Lands Protection Act, 1901, of the State of New South Wales, shall cease to apply to the Territory.

Interpretation
3.  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—
“Enclosed lands” means any lands, whether public or private, enclosed or surrounded with any fence, wall or other erection, or partly by a fence, wall or other erection, and partly by a canal or by some natural feature, such as a river or cliff, by which the boundaries of those lands may be known or recognized and, where a road is lawfully enclosed with the lands of any person, those lands, but not the road, shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, the enclosed lands of that person;
“road” means any land proclaimed, dedicated, resumed or otherwise provided as a public thoroughfare or way and any land defined, reserved or left as a road in any sub-division of lands;
“stock” includes horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.
Penalty for unlawful entry upon enclosed lands
4.  (1)  Any person who, without lawful excuse (proof whereof shall lie upon him), enters into the enclosed land of any other person, without the consent of the owner or occupier or the person in charge of those lands, shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalty:  Ten dollars.
(2)  Without prejudice to the generality of the expression “lawful excuse” in the last preceding subsection, a drover or person in charge of stock being driven upon a road lawfully enclosed with the lands of any person shall be deemed to have lawful excuse for entering those lands for the purpose of preventing the stock from straying or of regaining control of stock which have strayed from that road.
(3)  Where a road is lawfully enclosed with the lands of any person and the road is not clearly defined and—
	(a)	where there is a reasonably defined track commonly used by persons passing through those lands—the centre of the track shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be the centre of the road; or
	(b)	where there is no reasonably defined track through the lands—a person passing through the lands shall not be guilty of an offence against this section unless it is shown that the route taken by him in so passing was, having regard to the circumstances, unreasonable.

Penalty for leaving gate open
5.  (1)  Any person who enters into or upon the enclosed lands of any other person, and wilfully or negligently leaves any gate open or slip-panel down, shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalty:  Twenty dollars.
(2)  Any person who enters into or upon any road lawfully enclosed with the lands of any other person through any gate (other than a public gate as defined in the Public Gates Act 1901, of the State of New South Wales, in its application to the Territory) or slip-panel, and wilfully or negligently leaves that gate open or that slip-panel down, shall be guilty of an offence.
Penalty:  Twenty dollars.
Requirement to furnish name etc.
6.  (1)  If the owner, occupier or person in charge of enclosed lands believes on reasonable grounds that another person is committing an offence against this Act, he or she may require that other person to give his or her full name and residential address.
(2)  A person shall not refuse or fail to comply with a requirement under subsection (1).
Penalty:  $20.
Owner may destroy goats
7.  Any owner, occupier, or person in charge of enclosed land may destroy any goat (other than a goat which is legibly branded or which has around its neck a collar on which the name and address of its owner is legibly engraved) found trespassing thereon.

NOTE
1.	The Enclosed Lands Protection Act 1943 as shown in this reprint comprises Act No. 5, 1943 amended as indicated in the Tables below.
	Citation of Laws—The Self-Government (Citation of Laws) Act 1989  (No. 21, 1989) altered the citation of most Ordinances so that after Self-Government day they are to be cited as Acts.  That Act also affects references in ACT laws to Commonwealth Acts.
Table 1
Table of Ordinances
Ordinance	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

Enclosed Lands Protection Ordinance 1943	5, 1943	4 Feb 1943	4 Feb 1943		
Ordinances Revision (Decimal Currency) Ordinance 1966	19, 1966	23 Dec 1966	23 Dec 1966	—	
Magistrates Court Ordinance 1985	67, 1985	19 Dec 1985	1 Feb 1986 (see Gazette 1986, No. G3, p. 265)
	—	
Self-Government day 11 May 1989
Table 2
Table of Acts
Act	Number  
and year	Date of 
notification 
in Gazette	Date of 
commencement	Application, saving or transitional provisions	

Acts Revision (Arrest Without Warrant) Act 1989
	23, 1989	1 Dec 1989	1 Dec 1989	—	

Table of Amendments
ad. = added or inserted      am. = amended     rep. = repealed      rs. = repealed and substituted

Provision	How affected

Ss. 4, 5	am. No. 19, 1966
S. 6	am. No. 19, 1966; No. 67, 1985
	rs. Act No. 23, 1989

©  Australian Capital Territory 2013