Australian Constitutions Act 1842

And whereas the said Colony of New South Wales is of great extent and it may be fit that the territories now comprised within the said Colony should be divided into separate colonies and provision should be made for the temporary administration of the government of any such newly erected colony as not being comprised within the limits hereinafter mentioned may not possess a sufficient population for the immediate establishment therein of the form of government hereinbefore provided. Be it therefore enacted that anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary notwithstanding it shall be lawful for Her Majesty by letters patent to be from time to time issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to define as to Her Majesty shall seem meet the limits of the Colony of New South Wales and to erect into a separate colony or colonies any territories which now are or are reputed to be or hereafter may be comprised within the said Colony of New South Wales. Provided always that no part of the territories lying southward of the twenty-sixth degree of south latitude in the said Colony of New South Wales shall by any such letters patent as aforesaid be detached from the said colony.