Here is a summary of the South Australia Hansard Record, noting the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Torrens title system:

On July 1, 2008, Australia will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the system of land ownership known as Torrens Title. South Australia's first Real Property Act came into force in 1858, beginning the system of land titles registration that still flourishes today. The Torrens Title system was championed by Sir Robert Torrens, who was briefly the premier.

The Torrens system superseded the cumbersome and uncertain old system in which land transfers depended on the tracing of documentary chains of title back through history. That system was burdensome and unsatisfactory for the buyers and sellers of land. Under the Torrens system, the former researches into the chain of title are needless. Title to land depends on registration. The prospective buyer can rely on the register, the accuracy of which is guaranteed by the state and backed by an assurance fund. This makes land transactions far quicker, simpler and cheaper than under the old system and protects against the risk that the seller might not be able to pass good title.

The Torrens system of land title was soon taken up by other jurisdictions. By its 17th anniversary in 1875, the Torrens system applied throughout all the Australian colonies and in New Zealand. It has continued to spread and it is now in use in seven of the ten Canadian provinces - the Torrens registry in British Columbia opened for business as early as 5 April 1861 - and in Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, as well as in some countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

More than any other system of landholding, it lends itself to computerisation. Australia is now working towards a national electronic conveyancing system that builds on the Torrens system and will yet further improve the speed and convenience of land transactions.

The Torrens system's recent extension to cover almost the whole of Ontario and its adoption in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at the start of the 21st century is largely attributable to its suitability for computer-based operation. This is a remarkable thing indeed for an invention that is 150 years old and a tribute to the soundness of the principles upon which it is based.