Cumberland County, or the County of Cumberland, is a land division county in the State of New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The county covers the area of the Cumberland Plain and includes most of the Greater Sydney metropolitan area, stretching 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.
Note: Cumberland County should not be confused with the former Cumberland County Council, a county council set up under the Local Government (Town and Country Planning) Amendment Act 1945 (NSW) to coordinate town planning across Sydney. Despite the shared name the County Council 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 of Cumberland is an administrative area, one of 141 counties established in the Colony of New South Wales for surveying and land title registration, and further divided into 57 parishes in 1835. Land division counties in NSW have little official function and are only used for land titles and geographic surveying.
Between 1945 and 1964 the county was the basis of the city-wide County of Cumberland Planning Scheme, later superseded by a succession of state planning bodies.
The county has been marked on maps since the start of the colony, as shown along the key on a 1789 map which describes 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There were thirteen hundreds in Cumberland County, which were published in a government gazette on 27 May 1835, but repealed on 21 January 1888.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 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); and St. Matthew's 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:
ParishLGAHundred (former)Coordinates Alexandria Municipality of Woollahra Sydney Appin Wollondilly Shire Campbelltown Bankstown City of Canterbury-Bankstown Liverpool Berowra Hornsby Shire Dundas Botany Bayside Council Sydney Bringelly City of Penrith Bringelly Broken Bay Northern Beaches Council Packenham Bulgo City of Wollongong Heathcote Cabramatta City of Liverpool Bringelly Castle Hill The Hills Shire Parramatta Castlereagh City of Penrith Richmond Claremont City of Penrith Evan Concord Canada Bay, Strathfield and Burwood Sydney Cook Camden Council Bringelly Cornelia The Hills Shire Hardinge Cowan Hornsby Shire Dundas Eckersley City of Campbelltown Southend Field of Mars City of Parramatta Parramatta Frederick Hornsby Shire Hardinge Gidley City of Blacktown Windsor Gordon Ku-ring-gai Council Packenham Ham Common City of Hawkesbury Richmond Heathcote Sutherland Shire Heathcote Holsworthy City of Liverpool Liverpool Hunters Hill Ryde, Hunter's Hill Parramatta Liberty Plains Cumberland, Canterbury-Bankstown Parramatta Londonderry City of Penrith Richmond Manly Cove Northern Beaches Council Packenham Maroota The Hills Shire Hardinge Marramarra Hornsby Shire Dundas Melville City of Fairfield Evan Menangle City of Campbelltown Campbelltown Minto City of Campbelltown Liverpool Mulgoa City of Penrith Evan Narellan Camden Council Campbelltown Narrabeen Northern Beaches Council Packenham Nelson The Hills Shire Windsor North Colah Hornsby Shire Dundas Petersham Inner West Council Sydney Pitt Town City of Hawkesbury Windsor Prospect City of Blacktown Parramatta Rooty Hill City of Penrith Richmond South Colah Hornsby Shire Dundas Southend City of Wollongong Southend St Andrew City of Sydney Sydney St George Georges River, Bayside Sydney St James City of Sydney Sydney St John Parramatta, Cumberland Parramatta St Lawrence City of Sydney Sydney St Luke City of Fairfield Liverpool St Matthew City of Hawkesbury Windsor St Peter City of Campbelltown Campbelltown St Philip City of Sydney Sydney Sutherland Sutherland Shire Heathcote Wattamolla Sutherland Shire Heathcote Wedderburn Wollondilly Shire Southend Willoughby Lane Cove, Mosman, North Sydney, Willoughby Packenham
Districts
The first subdivisions of the county were called districts, shown in early maps from the period, such as 21 districts on an 1810 map and 37 districts on an 1824 map (not including Philip which was across the Nepean River and not part of the county). The districts in use in 1824:
References