25 May 1812 – Macquarie ended divide in VDL

#OnThisDay, 25 May 1812, Governor Lachlan Macquarie gave the General Order for the county of Van Diemen’s Land to be administered as one colony. In doing so, Governor Macquarie effectively abolished the political divide along the 42nd parallel that Governor Philip Gidley King established on 24 September 1804. The Lieutenant-Governors / Commandants who were in charge of their respective county, Buckinghamshire (South) or Cornwall (North), were to now report to the Governor of the Colony in Sydney.

Related

• See NRS 1045 - Government and general orders (General order books), 1795-1810   
• See NRS 1052 - Official extracts from the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 1810-1812
• See the entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography for Philip Gidley King
• See the entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography for Lachlan Macquarie

Acknowledgement

• The image of Lachlan Macquarie courtesy of the State Library of New South Wales.

From the Collection