Australia

First edition of this large scale hand coloured c.19th engraved map of Australia by Alexander Keith Johnston (1804–1871) the Geographer Royal for Great Britain.

The map shows Australia prior to the discovery of gold, a hypothetical Lake Torrens, the 19 counties in New South Wales and 23 in Western Australia are shown. Discoverers of parts of the Australian coastline are also noted. Inland exploration is virtually limited to the south eastern part of Australia.

The original nineteen counties in New South Wales were defined by Governor Darling’s Government in 1826.

The limits of location in the colony of New South Wales where settlers were permitted to take up land was only within the Governments defined as the, Nineteen Counties, and limits to settlement were due to the “dangers” in the wilderness. They were defined by the Governor of New South Wales Ralph Darling in 1826 in accordance with a government order from Lord Bathurst, the Secretary of State. Counties had been used since the first year of settlement, with Cumberland County being proclaimed on 6th June 1788. Several others were later proclaimed around the Sydney area. Darling proclaimed the division of the settlement into Nineteen Counties in the Sydney Gazette of 17 October 1829. From 1831 the granting of free land ceased and the only land that was to be made available for sale was within the Nineteen Counties. The area covered by the limit, extended to Taree in the north, Batemans Bay in the south and Wellington to the West.

From: Johnston, A.K. The National Atlas of Historical, Commercial and Political Geography, constructed from the Most Recent and Authentic Sources

References:
Phillips, P. A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress. Washington 1973 799.
Tooley, R.V. The Mapping of Australia. London 1979: 755

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 1990247 [1854?]
State Library Victoria: Record ID 9936588333607636
National Library New Zealand: MapColl -f100a 1855 51133 (1855)
Stanford Library: G1019 .J63 1855 FF [1854]
David Rumsey Collection: 0373A (1860)
Library of Congress Washington D.C.: CALL NUMBER G1019 .J58 1857