Lands administrative divisions of New South Wales


The lands administrative divisions of New South Wales refers to the 141 counties within the Colony of New South Wales, that later became the Australian state of New South Wales.
The counties were further subdivided into 7,419 parishes. There are also three land divisions, approximately one hundred land districts, and several other types of districts as well as land boards used at various periods. There were also thirteen hundreds proclaimed in Cumberland County, which were later abolished. These divisions are part of the lands administrative divisions of Australia. Unlike the local government areas of New South Wales, which have gone through restructuring periods by the government, the counties have been the same since the nineteenth century.

Creation of county areas

The first county proclaimed was Cumberland on 6 June 1788. Northumberland was named in 1804. Several other counties were established around Sydney; by the 1820s there were nine counties. They were: Roxburgh, Northumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Argyle, Camden, Ayr and Cambridge. They were in the approximate area of the present day cadastral units except that some of them were larger and took up land which was in 1834 assigned to other counties. Ayr and Cambridge were not used in the 1834 counties, taking up area which is approximately in what became Macquarie County and Brisbane County.
Instructions were given to Governor Brisbane in 1825 to survey New South Wales and divide it into counties of various sizes, hundreds, and parishes between 15 and 25 square miles. The Nineteen Counties were surveyed by Thomas Mitchell in 1834. Thirteen hundreds were proclaimed in Cumberland county, but not in anywhere else in New South Wales, and these were repealed in 1888.
As the counties are based on area, rather than population, there are huge differences in the populations of the coastal counties with those for the remote west. The whole of Sydney with several million people is located within Cumberland County, while there are many counties for areas in the Far West which have a very low population.

Use

The counties have little official function and are only now used for land titles and geographic surveying, and as an area of coverage within some industrial awards. Yancowinna County is also legally the only part of the state in the South Australian time zone.
Genealogy records from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for New South Wales commonly use the town name followed by the county. The 1911 Britannica lists all towns in New South Wales the same way, such as Albury, Goulburn county, Broken Hill, Yancowinna county and Wagga-Wagga, Wynyard county.

Early land districts

Parts of the land which were outside the Nineteen Counties were divided into squatting districts in the early nineteenth century . In 1846 New South Wales was divided into settled districts, intermediate districts and unsettled districts. In 1861 the system of settled and unsettled districts were abolished with the Crown Lands Acts, while new types of districts called first and second class settled districts, as well as town land and suburban land came into being. The various districts used:
The Crown Lands Act of 1884 further divided New South Wales into three land divisions; Western, Central and Eastern; as well as Land Boards and Land Districts. shows 14 land boards and 95 land districts; while a shows 13 land boards and 103 land districts. The new land districts were different from the previous land districts which had mostly been used in the western areas of the state before counties were proclaimed there. The land boards were named after the location of the head office. The table below shows the land districts used in 1890 and 1907, with the land boards and land divisions:
Land DistrictLand Board Land Board Land Division
AlburyWagga WaggaWagga WaggaEastern
ArmidaleArmidaleArmidaleEastern
Balranald SouthHayHayCentral
BalranaldHayWesternWestern
Barmedman EastForbesCentral
BarmedmanForbesCentral
BathurstOrangeOrangeEastern
BegaCoomaGoulburnEastern
BellingenGraftonEastern
BerrimaSydneyEasternEastern
BingaraMoreeMoreeCentral
BombalaCoomaGoulburnEastern
BoorowaGoulburnGoulburnEastern
BourkeBourkeWesternWestern
BraidwoodGoulburnGoulburnEastern
BreewarrinaBourkeWesternWestern
Breewarrina EastBourkeCentral
CampbelltownSydneyEastern
CarcoarOrangeOrangeEastern
CasinoGraftonGraftonEastern
CassillisMaitlandEastern
CobarBourkeWesternWestern
Cobar EastBourkeCentral
CondobolinForbesForbesCentral
CoomaCoomaGoulburnEastern
CoonabarabranTamworthTamworthCentral
CoonambleDubboDubboEastern
CootamundryWagga WaggaWagga WaggaEastern
Cootamundry CentralWagga WaggaEastern
CorowaWagga WaggaWagga WaggaCentral
CowraOrangeOrangeEastern
DeniliquinHayHayCentral
DubboDubboDubboEastern
DungogMaitlandMaitlandEastern
EdenCoomaGoulburnEastern
ForbesForbesForbesCentral
Glen InnesArmidaleArmidaleEastern
GosfordSydneyMaitlandEastern
GoulburnGoulburnGoulburnEastern
GraftonGraftonGraftonEastern
GrenfellForbesForbesCentral
GundagaiWagga WaggaWagga WaggaEastern
GunnedahTamworthTamworthCentral
GunningGoulburnGoulburnEastern
Hay NorthHayWesternWestern
HayHayHayCentral
Hillston NorthHayWesternWestern
HillstonHayHayCentral
InverellArmidaleArmidaleEastern
KempseyGraftonGraftonEastern
KiamaSydneySydneyEastern
LismoreGraftonGraftonEastern
LithgowSydneyOrangeEastern
LiverpoolSydneyEastern
MaitlandMaitlandMaitlandEastern
MetropolitanSydneySydneyEastern
MiltonSydneySydneyEastern
MolongOrangeOrangeEastern
MoreeMoreeMoreeCentral
MoruyaSydneyEastern
MudgeeOrangeOrangeEastern
MurrurundiTamworthTamworthEastern
MurwillumbahGraftonGraftonEastern
MuswellbrookMaitlandMaitlandEastern
NarrabriTamworthMoreeCentral
NarranderaWagga WaggaHayCentral
NewcastleMaitlandMaitlandEastern
NowraSydneySydneyEastern
NynganDubboEastern
OrangeOrangeOrangeEastern
ParkesForbesForbesCentral
ParramattaSydneySydneyEastern
PatersonMaitlandEastern
PenrithSydneySydneyEastern
PictonSydneySydneyEastern
Port MacquarieMaitlandGraftonEastern
QueanbeyanCoomaGoulburnEastern
Raymonod TerraceMaitlandEastern
RylstoneOrangeOrangeEastern
SconeMaitlandMaitlandEastern
SingletonMaitlandMaitlandEastern
StroudMaitlandMaitlandEastern
TamworthTamworthTamworthEastern
TareeMaitlandMaitlandEastern
TenterfieldArmidaleArmidaleEastern
Tumbarumba NorthWagga WaggaEastern
TumbarumbaWagga WaggaEastern
TumutWagga WaggaWagga WaggaEastern
UranaWagga WaggaWagga WaggaCentral
Wagga WaggaWagga WaggaWagga WaggaCentral
WalchaArmidaleArmidaleEastern
Walgett NorthMoreeWesternWestern
WalgettMoreeMoreeCentral
WarialdaMoreeMoreeCentral
WarrenDubboEastern
WellingtonOrangeOrangeEastern
WentworthHayWesternWestern
WilcanniaBourkeWesternWestern
WindsorSydneySydneyEastern
WollombiMaitlandEastern
WollongongSydneySydneyEastern
WyalongForbesCentral
YassGoulburnGoulburnEastern
YoungGoulburnWagga WaggaEastern

Table of counties

CountyYear of
erection
number of
parishes
Coordinates
Argyle182150
Arrawatta186270
Ashburnham185060
Auckland184355
Baradine186278
Barrona188428
Bathurst182967
Benarba1862102
Beresford184849
Bland186265
Blaxland186292
Bligh182947
Booroondarra188436
Bourke186255
Boyd186239
Brisbane182958
Buccleuch184835
Buckland184833
Buller185045
Burnett186256
Cadell186228
Caira186280
Camden180555
Canbelego187552
Clarence184840
Clarendon185036
Clarke186251
Clive185054
Clyde186280
Cook182945
Cooper186276
Courallie186254
Cowley184823
Cowper1862117
Culgoa188446
Cumberland178857
Cunningham186259
Dampier184841
Darling185036
Delalah188423
Denham186244
Denison186231
Dowling186251
Drake185039
Dudley184837
Durham182963
Evelyn188441
Ewenmar186253
Farnell188434
Finch1875120
Fitzgerald188431
Fitzroy186246
Flinders186271
Forbes186238
Franklin186244
Georgiana182959
Gipps186271
Gloucester182979
Gordon185039
Gough186263
Goulburn185038
Gowen185051
Gregory186291
Gresham185033
Gunderbooka187545
Harden185042
Hardinge186245
Hawes184839
Hume186243
Hunter182964
Inglis185022
Irrara188447
Jamison186264
Kennedy186261
Kilfera188415
Killara187553
King182948
Landsborough187525
Leichhardt1862105
Lincoln185052
Livingstone186254
Macquarie183062
Manara188443
Menindee186229
Mitchell186240
Monteagle185035
Mootwingee188439
Mossgiel188487
Mouramba188464
Murchison186248
Murray182954
Nandewar186233
Napier185029
Narran187597
Narromine186246
Nicholson186270
Northumberland180468
Oxley186243
Parry184835
Perry186258
Phillip182945
Poole188412
Pottinger185064
Raleigh184831
Rankin187536
Richmond184836
Robinson188446
Rous184874
Roxburgh182948
Sandon185044
Selwyn186248
St Vincent186276
Stapylton186257
Sturt182942
Taila186242
Tandora188427
Tara186254
Thoulcanna188419
Tongowoko188420
Townsend1862111
Ularara188429
Urana186273
Vernon184844
Wakool186298
Waljeers186260
Wallace184865
Waradgery186283
Wellesley184849
Wellington182959
Wentworth186271
Werunda187533
Westmoreland181446
White186247
Windeyer186247
Woore188432
Wynyard185053
Yancowinna188450
Yanda187555
Yantara188433
Young187558
Yungnulgra188439