Northumberland County was one of the original Nineteen Counties in New South Wales and is now one of the 141 cadastral divisions of New South Wales. It included the area to the north of Broken Bay, which compasses the Central Coast region and Lake Macquarie as well as Newcastle(Greater Newcastle) in the Hunter region. It was bounded by the part of the Hawkesbury River to the south, the Macdonald River to the south-west, and the Hunter River to the north. Note that Northumberland County should not be confused with the former Northumberland County Council, a county council which existed between 21 July 1948 and 19 December 1963, and which despite the shared name was a legally distinct entity, with a distinct (albeit partially overlapping) territory, the Northumberland county district.[1]
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Northumberland County was named after the English Northumberland, and named by Lieutenant Charles Menzies, commandant at Newcastle, about 1804.[2]
In 1852 it had an area of 1,498,060 acres (6,062.4 km2) and population of 15,207, and was described as being 68 miles (109 km) long and 53 miles (85 km) wide and the main coal region of the colony.[3]
Parishes
editNorthumberland County contains the following parishes:
References
edit- ^ Archives Investigator NSW Archived September 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Northumberland County". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales.
- ^ "Old Welsh Books with English Translations", The Land of Gold: the Companion for the Welsh Emigrant to Australia, 1852
