Index to Early Land Grants in Van Diemen's Land (to 1824)
A Guide to District Names
compiled by Douglas Burbury
The two main sources for the names in this index -- George William Evans' A Geographical Historical and Topographical Description of Van Diemen's Land (1822) and the chart compiled by Thomas Scott, Assistant Surveyor-General of Van Diemen's Land (1824) -- both use letters to designate the various districts throughout the colony. Following is a guide to each district, showing the letter used to represent that district in each source, along with an approximate indication of where the district is in modern-day terms.
There appears to have been a bit of overlap in some districts, particularly for those in the north. For example, Evans lists Western River, Norfolk Plains and Lake River as a single district but also has a separate district of Norfolk Plains, whereas Scott's Map divides each of these into its own district. Plus, it would appear that Evans lists some grants as being in North Esk, for example, whereas Scott lists them as being in South Esk, and vice versa. Only a limited attempt has been made at this stage to reconcile these anomalies, so in some cases the same grant may be listed twice, once for each district.
Guide to District Names| Evans | Scott | District Name | Modern Equivalent (very approximate) |
| -- | Z | Amherst | West of Bothwell (Ouse and Clyde River Valleys) |
| I | I | Argyle | Hobart City/Battery Point |
| -- | Aa | Bath | Oatlands, Jericho & surrounds |
| -- | Ee | Bathurst | Campbell Town, Conara, Cleveland & Epping Forest |
| U | U | Caledon | Runnymede, area east of Campania |
| G | G | Cambridge | Risdon Vale/Grasstree Hill |
| D | D | Clarence Plains | Hobart's Eastern Shore (Rokeby, Lauderdale) |
| P | P | Drummond | Pontville, Tea Tree |
| Q | Q | Forbes | Risdon/Old Beach |
| -- | Ll | George Town | Tamar River Valley, from about Dilston/Legana to George Town |
| J | J | Glenorchy | North Hobart, City of Glenorchy |
| E | E | Gloucester | Sorell, Pawleena and surrounds |
| W | W | Green Ponds | Kempton, Melton Mowbray |
| H | H | Harrington | Midway Point/Orielton |
| O | O | Jarvis | Bagdad & Mangalore |
| A | A | Kingborough | Margate/Snug (south of Hobart) |
| -- | Ff | Lake River | Cressy |
| -- | Jj | Launceston | Launceston City |
| -- | Cc | Lennox | Tunbridge, Ross & Macquarie River Valley (west side) |
| L | L | Macquarie | New Norfolk to Gretna |
| M | M | Melville | Bridgewater/Dromedary |
| -- | Bb | Methven | York Plains, Woodbury & Antill Ponds |
| -- | Y | Murray | Bothwell |
| K | K | New Norfolk | Dromedary/Molesworth & surrounds |
| -- | Gg | Norfolk Plain | Longford, Perth |
| -- | Ii | North Esk | Evandale, Western Junction & White Hills |
| S | S | Ormaig | Coal River Valley (Colebrook) |
| -- | Mm | Oyster Bay | Swansea, Great Oyster Bay |
| V | V | Pitt | Pittwater |
| B | B | Queenborough | Sandy Bay (suburb of Hobart) |
| -- | Dd | Richmond | Tunbridge, Ross & Macquarie River Valley (east side) |
| -- | X | Sorell | Hamilton/Ouse |
| -- | Hh | South Esk | Nile, South Esk River Valley |
| T | T | Staffa | Levendale, Woodsdale & surrounds |
| N | N | Strangford | Brighton (west of Jordan River) to Broadmarsh/Elderslie |
| F | F | Sussex | Forcett, Dodges Ferry and surrounds |
| R | R | Ulva | Coal River Valley (Richmond & Campania) |
| -- | Kk | Western River | Hadspen, Carrick & surrounds |
| C | C | York | Hobart's Eastern Shore (Bellerive, Sandford, South Arm) |
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