This dataset consists of the counties of the British colony of New South Wales (including portions that were later separated as Victoria and Queensland) as at the end of 1850. Counties were administrative regions largely used for purposes of land grants and sales, but also used for some colonial statistics, including five-yearly census returns. Counties could be either formally gazetted or informally defined for administrative purposes. Up to 1826 only seven counties had entered common use, of these only five had been formally gazetted. In 1829 the number of counties was increased to a total of nineteen - the so-called 'limits of location', beyond which land sales were (for a period) restricted. A small number of counties came into official use in the period following while remaining ungazetted. A further 31 counties were gazetted in 1848, while another 32 counties were authorised by the Surveyor General (but not gazetted) in 1850. No further changes to the number of counties were made until 1861.

While counties in New South Wales remain in use, they have fallen out of usage in both Victoria and Queensland. There have also been some changes to boundaries within New South Wales since 1850.

This dataset was created as part of the PhD research project, ‘Settlers and the city: the colonising entanglements of Sydney, its settlers, and their world, 1830-50’, undertaken by Nicholas Pitt and accepted April 2024.

The data was created by combining multiple data sources (historical and contemporary) as described in the methodology. The fields consist of: Year: Earliest known year of the county name in use County: County name DateSource: Source of the earliest known year BoundarySource: Main source for verifying boundaries - note that multiple sources were used, as described in the methodology.

A county is a sub-national division of a country and where introduced by the Normans after the conquest of England in 1066, although a similar Anglo-Saxon administrative system of 'Shires' where in existence prior to this. Counties where usually overseen by a sheriff (Shire Reeve) who was appointed by the crown to collect taxes, raise militia and keep the peace though the administration of law. The implementation of the county system in Wales is a little complicated. In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan created six sheriffdoms or 'Shires' in Wales; Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merioneth, Flint, Carmarthen and Cardigan known as the Principality of Wales. The remainder of Wales consisted of the two Royal Lordships of Glamorgan and Pembroke and various Marcher Lordships which often made use of the earlier Commote and Cantref boundaries. The Marcher Lordships were abolished by the Laws in Wales Acts (1535) and the five new counties of Denbighshire, Monmouthshire, Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire were created to replace them. This created a total of thirteen historical counties in Wales. Some townships usually considered a part of Wales were assigned to Shropshire and Herefordshire and minor changes to the boundaries were made in the Laws in Wales Act (1542). The thirteen historic counties remained in use until the Local Government Act 1972, the implementation of which in 1974 saw the abolishment of the historic counties and the creation of eight new administrative counties, Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan and Powys. These themselves where replaced in 1996 by the creation of twenty two Unitary Authorities (or 'Principal Areas'), although the former eight counties still have ceremonial significance.

NSW County is a dataset within the NSW Digital Cadastral Database (DCDB). It depicts one of 141 basic divisions of the State of New South Wales, further divided into parishes, for administrative purposes, especially for management and disposal of Crown lands. County and Parish are historical layers and the information contained in these layers was gathered from Parish and County maps which are now held at State Records (digital versions can be accessed through the Historical Lands Records Viewer). Boundaries in this dataset can be updated (if necessary) after a manual title inspection.

A county is a sub-national division of a country and where introduced by the Normans after the conquest of England in 1066, although a similar Anglo-Saxon administrative system of 'Shires' where in existence prior to this. Counties where usually overseen by a sheriff (Shire Reeve) who was appointed by the crown to collect taxes, raise militia and keep the peace though the administration of law. The implementation of the county system in Wales is a little complicated. In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan created six sheriffdoms or 'Shires' in Wales; Anglesey, Caernarfon, Merioneth, Flint, Carmarthen and Cardigan known as the Principality of Wales. The remainder of Wales consisted of the two Royal Lordships of Glamorgan and Pembroke and various Marcher Lordships which often made use of the earlier Commote and Cantref boundaries. The Marcher Lordships were abolished by the Laws in Wales Acts (1535) and the five new counties of Denbighshire, Monmouthshire, Brecknockshire, Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire were created to replace them. This created a total of thirteen historical counties in Wales. Some townships usually considered a part of Wales were assigned to Shropshire and Herefordshire and minor changes to the boundaries were made in the Laws in Wales Act (1542). The thirteen historic counties remained in use until the Local Government Act 1972, the implementation of which in 1974 saw the abolishment of the historic counties and the creation of eight new administrative counties, Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, South Glamorgan, West Glamorgan and Powys. These themselves where replaced in 1996 by the creation of twenty two Unitary Authorities (or 'Principal Areas'), although the former eight counties still have ceremonial significance.

These are tracings of runs arranged by district (eg. Albert District, Bligh District). They show the name of the run, name of the county in which the run was situated and the length of the boundaries. Some tracings also show the estimated area of each run and natural features. There are also some tracings of land other than runs, and some descriptions of runs. A full listing is available. (6/5670-71, SR Map No. 6380, X2538-39). 2 boxes, 3 maps. Note: This description is extracted from Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd Edition 2000.