Litigation (principally criminal prosecution) on behalf of the Crown and providing legal advice to Ministers and Departments. The Solicitor-Generals Department has its origins in a loose grouping, known as the Law Officers Establishment, consisting of the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General and their staffs, formed between 1823 and 1828, at about the same time as the establishment of the Supreme Court of Van Diemens Land. The office of the Attorney-General became political with the granting of responsible government in 1856. The Solicitor-General, too, was a member of some early Cabinets, but by 1863 it had been firmly decided that his was to be a non-political, non-Ministerial office. However, he and his staff remained at the heart of the legal administration of the State throughout the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. In 1934 those officers carrying out functions now performed in the Attorney-Generals Department were separated from the Solicitor-Generals Department. It become a distinct entity, with its principal tasks being to give legal advice to Ministers and Government Departments, to conduct criminal prosecutions and civil litigation on behalf of the Crown and to perform the Governments conveyancing work. In 1973 the statutory office of Crown Advocate was created. He took over much of the responsibility for criminal prosecutions, though the staff who actually conducted them remained members of the Solicitor-Generals Department. On 15 March 1983 staff of the Department were transferred to the newly created Law Department. The position of Solicitor-General was made a statutory office on 29 June and the Department was abolished. (SR194 of 1983).~