Buller County was one of the

counties of New Zealand A system of counties of New Zealand was instituted after the country dissolved its provinces in 1876, and these counties were similar to other countries' systems, lasting with little change (except mergers and other localised boundary adjustmen ...

on the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. During the period 1853 to 1876, the area that would become Buller County was administered as part of

Nelson Province Nelson Province was constituted in 1853 under the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, and originally covered the entire upper South Island, including all of present-day Buller, Kaikoura, Marlborough, and Tasman districts, along with Nelson Ci ...

. With the Abolition of Provinces Act 1876, Buller County was created, taking over administration of its area in January 1877. The county council's administrative headquarters were located in Westport Borough. Buller County existed until the

1989 local government reforms The 1989 New Zealand local government reform was the most significant reform of local government in New Zealand in over a century. Some 850 local bodies were amalgamated into 86 local authorities, made up of regional and territorial levels. Backg ...

, when the

Buller District Buller District is one of 53 districts of New Zealand, and is within the West Coast Region. It covers Westport, Karamea, Reefton and Inangahua Junction. Buller District's overall land area is . The district is administered by the Buller Distri ...

was formed through the amalgamation of the Buller County,

Inangahua County Inangahua County was one of the counties of New Zealand on the South Island. During the period 1853 to 1876, the area that would become Inangahua County was administered as part of Nelson Province. With the Abolition of Provinces Act 1876, I ...

and Westport Borough administrative areas. The county took its name from the

Buller River The Buller River ( mi, Kawatiri) is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. One of the country's longest rivers, it flows for from Lake Rotoiti through the Buller Gorge and into the Tasman Sea near the town of Westport. Within the Bulle ...

, itself named for

Charles Buller Charles Buller (6 August 1806 – 29 November 1848) was a British barrister, politician and reformer. Background and education Born in Calcutta, British India, Buller was the son of Charles Buller (1774–1848), a member of a well-known Corn ...

, Member of Parliament in the

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great B ...

(UK) and director of the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

, a UK-based company in the early 1800s with a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...

supporting colonization efforts of New Zealand.

References

Counties of New Zealand Politics of the West Coast, New Zealand {{WestCoastNZ-geo-stub

See also

References