 Counties were used since the earliest British settlement in Australia, with the County of Cumberland proclaimed by Captain Phillip on 4 June 1788.In 1804 Governor King divided Van Diemen's Land into two counties; Buckingham in the south and Cornwall in the north.The parishes date to the surveys conducted after 1825, with the instructions given to Governor Brisbane on 23 Jun 1825 to divide the colony into counties, hundreds and parishes.