Nineteen Counties

of Victoria and New South Wales showing towns, major rivers and the limits of the Colony at the time. The map also shows the routes taken by Mitchell's expedition and camps. In January 1819, John Bigge was appointed a special commissioner to examine the government of the colony of New South Wales. Bigge arrived in Sydney in September 1819 gathering evidence until February 1821 when he returned to England. Bigge's first report was published in June 1822 and his second and third reports in 1823. His third report dealt with agriculture and trade. In 1824, Governor Brisbane approved the sale of crown land in accordance with one of Bigge's recommendations. Previously only a nominal quit rent was required for grants by the crown. In 1825, Secretary of State Lord Bathurst instructed Governor Brisbane to survey the territory to allow for more planned settlement. During the survey one seventh of the land in each county was to be set a side for the Church of England and an educational system under the control of the church. Income from this land was to be managed under the Church and Schools Corporation. When Governor Darling was commissioned in July 1825, his commission extended the New South Wales boundary six degrees to the west compared with the commissions issued to previous governors. In September 1826, Darling announced the boundaries within which the survey instructed by Bathurst in 1825 was to be conducted. The boundaries were the Manning River to the north, the Lachlan river to the west and the Moruya river to the south. Settlement beyond these boundaries was not to take place. The survey would allow the allocation of land grants and the boundaries, known as the limits of location, were used for other administrative purposes including police administration. Darling proclaimed the division of the settlement into nineteen counties in the Sydney Gazette of 17 October 1829. In some places there were already squatters beyond these boundaries. == List ==

• Gloucester: northernmost boundary was the Manning River; the county incorporated Port Stephens • Durham: west of Gloucester, southern Boundary was the Hunter River • Northumberland: northern boundary was the Hunter River and the southern boundary was formed by the Hawkesbury River • Cumberland: incorporated Sydney, Windsor, Parramatta, Liverpool and Appin to the south • Camden: included Camden, Picton and Berrima with the southernmost border defined by the Shoalhaven River • St Vincent: from the Shoalhaven River south to the Moruya River, included Jervis Bay, Batemans Bay and Braidwood • Hunter: west of the county of Northumberland, bounded by the Hunter River to the north • Cook: west of Cumberland county and south of the county of Hunter • Westmoreland: west of the counties of Cook and Camden • Georgiana: west of the county of Westmoreland • King: north of the county of Murray and west of the counties of Argyle and Georgiana • Murray: incorporating the Limestone Plains and Lake George, bounded by the Murrumbidgee River to the west, the south western extent of limits of settlement • Argyle: west of Camden county, included Goulburn, bounded by the Shoalhaven River to the south east • Roxburgh: north east of the county of Bathurst, west of the counties of Cook and Hunter • Bathurst: bounded by the Lachlan River to the south west, incorporating the town of Bathurst, west of the counties of Roxburgh and Westmoreland • Brisbane: north of the Hunter River, west of the county of Durham, one of the northernmost counties • Phillip: west of the county of Hunter and north of Roxburgh • Wellington: north of Bathurst, the town of Wellington was in the northwest of the county and the Macquarie River flowed through the middle • Bligh: the north-westernmost county, north of the county of Phillip and west of the county of Brisbane == See also ==