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Lands administrative divisions of New South Wales facts for kids

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New South Wales cadastral divisions
The 141 counties of New South Wales, with the original Nineteen shown in pink
Cumberland County Parishes
The parishes of Cumberland County

New South Wales uses a special system to keep track of its land. It's divided into 141 main areas called counties. Each county is then split into smaller parts called parishes. These counties were first created a long time ago when New South Wales was a British colony, before it became part of Australia.

There are 7,419 parishes in total. The land is also divided in other ways, like into three big land divisions and about a hundred land districts. In the past, there were also 13 special areas called hundreds in Cumberland County, but these were later removed. Unlike the way local councils change their boundaries, these counties have stayed mostly the same since the 1800s.

How Counties Were Made

New South Wales 1832
1832 map showing the nine counties in use before Thomas Mitchell surveyed the Nineteen Counties in 1834

The very first county, Cumberland, was created on June 6, 1788. Northumberland was named in 1804. By the 1820s, there were nine counties around Sydney. These included Roxburgh, Northumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Argyle, Camden, Ayr, and Cambridge. Some of these early counties were much larger than they are today.

In 1825, Governor Brisbane was told to survey New South Wales. He was to divide it into counties, hundreds, and parishes. The famous explorer Thomas Mitchell surveyed the most important ones, known as the Nineteen Counties, in 1834. Even though 13 hundreds were created in Cumberland County, they weren't used anywhere else in New South Wales and were removed in 1888.

Because counties are based on land size, not how many people live there, some counties have huge populations while others have very few. For example, the entire city of Sydney, with millions of people, is inside Cumberland County. But many counties in the Far West have very few residents.

What Counties Are Used For Today

Counties don't have many official jobs anymore. They are mainly used for keeping track of land ownership and for geographic surveys. They also help define areas for some work agreements. Interestingly, Yancowinna County is the only part of New South Wales that uses the South Australian time zone.

If you look at old family records from the 1800s and early 1900s in New South Wales, you'll often see towns listed with their county. For example, the 1911 Britannica encyclopedia listed places like "Albury, Goulburn county" and "Broken Hill, Yancowinna county".

Early Land Districts

Before the county system was fully set up, some areas outside the main counties were divided into "squatting districts" in the early 1800s. Later, in 1846, New South Wales was split into settled, intermediate, and unsettled districts. This system changed again in 1861 with new land laws.

Some of these early districts included:

  • Albert District: Located west of the Darling River.
  • Bligh District: East of the Macquarie River.
  • Clarence River District: Created from the Port Macquarie District.
  • Lachlan District: Between the Lachlan River and Murrumbidgee River.
  • Liverpool Plains District: A very large area, later split into smaller districts.
  • Maneroo District: In the south, now called Monaro.
  • Murrumbidgee District: Between the Murrumbidgee and Murray rivers.
  • New England District: In the New England region.

Land Divisions and Boards

In 1884, the Crown Lands Act divided New South Wales into three large land divisions: the Western, Central, and Eastern divisions. This act also created Land Boards and Land Districts.

By 1890, there were 14 Land Boards and 95 Land Districts. By 1907, there were 13 Land Boards and 103 Land Districts. These new land districts were different from the earlier ones. The Land Boards were named after the towns where their main offices were located.

Jinderboine 1898 cadastral map key
The key from a typical cadastral map from the 1890s showed four types of subdivisions: the parish, county, land district, and land division. This one is located in the County of Wallace

Table of Counties

Here is a list of the counties in New South Wales, when they were created, and how many parishes are in each:

County Year Created Number of Parishes
Argyle 1821 50
Arrawatta 1862 70
Ashburnham 1850 60
Auckland 1843 55
Baradine 1862 78
Barrona 1884 28
Bathurst 1829 67
Benarba 1862 102
Beresford 1848 49
Bland 1862 65
Blaxland 1862 92
Bligh 1829 47
Booroondarra 1884 36
Bourke 1862 55
Boyd 1862 39
Brisbane 1829 58
Buccleuch 1848 35
Buckland 1848 33
Buller 1850 45
Burnett 1862 56
Cadell 1862 28
Caira 1862 80
Camden 1805 55
Canbelego 1875 52
Clarence 1848 40
Clarendon 1850 36
Clarke 1862 51
Clive 1850 54
Clyde 1862 80
Cook 1829 45
Cooper 1862 76
Courallie 1862 54
Cowley 1848 23
Cowper 1862 117
Culgoa 1884 46
Cumberland 1788 57
Cunningham 1862 59
Dampier 1848 41
Darling 1850 36
Delalah 1884 23
Denham 1862 44
Denison 1862 31
Dowling 1862 51
Drake 1850 39
Dudley 1848 37
Durham 1829 63
Evelyn 1884 41
Ewenmar 1862 53
Farnell 1884 34
Finch 1875 120
Fitzgerald 1884 31
Fitzroy 1862 46
Flinders 1862 71
Forbes 1862 38
Franklin 1862 44
Georgiana 1829 59
Gipps 1862 71
Gloucester 1829 79
Gordon 1850 39
Gough 1862 63
Goulburn 1850 38
Gowen 1850 51
Gregory 1862 91
Gresham 1850 33
Gunderbooka 1875 45
Harden 1850 42
Hardinge 1862 45
Hawes 1848 39
Hume 1862 43
Hunter 1829 64
Inglis 1850 22
Irrara 1884 47
Jamison 1862 64
Kennedy 1862 61
Kilfera 1884 15
Killara 1875 53
King 1829 48
Landsborough 1875 25
Leichhardt 1862 105
Lincoln 1850 52
Livingstone 1862 54
Macquarie 1830 62
Manara 1884 43
Menindee 1862 29
Mitchell 1862 40
Monteagle 1850 35
Mootwingee 1884 39
Mossgiel 1884 87
Mouramba 1884 64
Murchison 1862 48
Murray 1829 54
Nandewar 1862 33
Napier 1850 29
Narran 1875 97
Narromine 1862 46
Nicholson 1862 70
Northumberland 1804 68
Oxley 1862 43
Parry 1848 35
Perry 1862 58
Phillip 1829 45
Poole 1884 12
Pottinger 1850 64
Raleigh 1848 31
Rankin 1875 36
Richmond 1848 36
Robinson 1884 46
Rous 1848 74
Roxburgh 1829 48
Sandon 1850 44
Selwyn 1862 48
St Vincent 1862 76
Stapylton 1862 57
Sturt 1829 42
Taila 1862 42
Tandora 1884 27
Tara 1862 54
Thoulcanna 1884 19
Tongowoko 1884 20
Townsend 1862 111
Ularara 1884 29
Urana 1862 73
Vernon 1848 44
Wakool 1862 98
Waljeers 1862 60
Wallace 1848 65
Waradgery 1862 83
Wellesley 1848 49
Wellington 1829 59
Wentworth 1862 71
Werunda 1875 33
Westmoreland 1814 46
White 1862 47
Windeyer 1862 47
Woore 1884 32
Wynyard 1850 53
Yancowinna 1884 50
Yanda 1875 55
Yantara 1884 33
Young 1875 58
Yungnulgra 1884 39

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