Cumberland County, New South Wales

Cumberland County is a county in the State of New South Wales, Australia. Most of the Sydney metropolitan area is located within the County of Cumberland.

The County of Cumberland stretches from Broken Bay to the north, the Hawkesbury River to the north-west, the Nepean River to the west, the Cataract River to the south-west and the northern suburbs of Wollongong to the south. It includes the area of the Cumberland Plain.

Note that Cumberland County should not be confused with the former Cumberland County Council, a county council which existed from 1945 to 1964, and which despite the shared name was a legally distinct entity, with a distinct (albeit largely overlapping) territory, the Cumberland county district.

History

The name ''Cumberland'' was conferred by Governor Arthur Phillip in honour of Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn at a gathering to celebrate the birthday of his brother, George III, on 4 June 1788. The county has been marked on maps since the start of the colony, as shown along the key on a 1789 map describing Port Jackson as being within the county of Cumberland. In the nineteenth century, parts of the county were in the South and North Riding electoral districts from 1856 to 1859, which were replaced by Central Cumberland. There was also the Cumberland Boroughs electoral district.

Sub-divisions

Hundreds

There were thirteen hundreds in Cumberland County, which were published in a government gazette on 27 May 1835, but repealed on 21 January 1888. Unlike South Australia, the hundreds were never adopted anywhere else in New South Wales. The hundreds:
* Bringelly
* Campbelltown
* Dundas
* Evan
* Hardinge
* Liverpool
* Packenham
* Parramatta
* Richmond
* Southend
* Hundred of Sydney
* Windsor
* Woronora (shown as Heathcote on some maps)

Parishes

In 1835, Cumberland County was subdivided into 57 parishes. Previously, the subdivisions of the area since the beginning of the colony were called districts. Many of the parishes founded in 1835 kept the name of the district. Others were named after Anglican churches in the same area. This included three of the four small parishes in the Sydney city area: The Parish of St Philip, which is named after St Philip's Church; the Parish of St James, which is named after St James Church, and is still the name of the region today; and finally the Parish of St Andrew which is named after St Andrew's Cathedral. However, the Parish of St Lawrence gave its name to the church, rather than the other way around.The Naming of the Parish, Christ Church of St.Laurence
/ref> Further out of the city, the parishes of St John, St Luke, St Peter and St Matthew, in the Parramatta, Liverpool, Campbelltown and Windsor areas respectively, have Anglican churches which bear the same saints names
St John's
in Parramatta (opened 1803)
St.Luke's
in Liverpool (building began 1818);
St.Peter's
in Campbelltown (opened 1823, the third oldest Anglican church in Australia); an

in Windsor (consecrated in 1822)

A full list of parishes found within this county; the LGAs which the parish is mostly in (most parish boundaries do not match LGA boundaries exactly), and mapping coordinates to the approximate centre of each location is as follows:

Districts

The first subdivisions of the county were called districts, shown in early maps from the period, such as 21 districts on a
1810 map
and 37 districts on a
1824 map
(not including Philip which was across the Nepean River and not part of the county). The districts in use in 1824:

References

{{Counties of New South Wales

Counties of New South Wales
States and territories established in 1788
Geography of Sydney
1788 establishments in Australia