During the period 1853 to 1873, the area that would become Grey County was administered as part of both Nelson Province and Canterbury Province (the Canterbury portion was transferred to a newly created Westland Province in 1873). The boundary between the provinces had been set as a straight line from the head of the Hurunui River to Lake Brunner at a time when the area was virtually uninhabited, but the West Coast Gold Rush then straddled that boundary, with a population boom also straddling the boundary. In 1866, there had been a proposal for the portions in Canterbury Province, including the urban area of Greymouth and the rural area south, to be annexed and solely administered by Nelson Province.