Northumberland County was one of the original

Nineteen Counties The Nineteen Counties were the limits of location in the colony of New South Wales, Australia. Settlers were permitted to take up land only within the counties due to the dangers in the wilderness. They were defined by the Governor of New Sou ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and is now one of the 141

cadastral divisions of New South Wales For lands administration purposes, New South Wales is divided into 141 County#Australia, counties, which are further divided into parishes. The counties were first set down in the Colony of New South Wales, which later became the Australian St ...

. It included the area to the north of

Broken Bay Broken Bay, a semi-mature tide-dominated ria, drowned valley estuary, is a large inlet of the Tasman Sea located about north of Sydney on the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia; being one of the bodies ...

, which compasses the Central Coast region and Lake Macquarie as well as

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

(

Greater Newcastle Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

) in the

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

region. It was bounded by the part of the

Hawkesbury River The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River (Dharug language, Dharug: Dyarubbin) is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle ...

to the south, the Macdonald River to the south-west, and the

Hunter River Hunter River may refer to: *Hunter River (New South Wales), Australia *Hunter River (Western Australia) *Hunter River, New Zealand *Hunter River (Prince Edward Island), Canada **Hunter River, Prince Edward Island, community on Hunter River, Canada ...

to the north. Note that Northumberland County should not be confused with the former Northumberland County Council, a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

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. Northumberland County was named after the English

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, and named by Lieutenant Charles Menzies, commandant at Newcastle, about 1804. In 1852 it had an area of and population of 15,207, and was described as being long and wide and the main

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

region of the colony. "Old Welsh Books with English Translations"
''The Land of Gold: the Companion for the Welsh Emigrant to Australia'', 1852

Parishes

Northumberland County contains the following parishes:

References

{{Counties of New South Wales Counties of New South Wales