Tonj Town centre is a historical place that was established and made to be the headquarters of the former Jur River District 1902.

The former Jur River District with its headquarters in Tonj town included the region of Abyei, Gogrial and Gok Arol Community.

However, in the current time Tonj and Kalkuel are taking the lead as the formal reference to the area while the rest of the names are informally used.

The current Tonj South County was formally referred to as Thiet Rural Council in 1960s to 1980s by government authorities under various Khartoum Regimes.

The current Tonj South County is made up of the following communities: Tonj South is the community of William Deng Nhial (1929 - 5 May 1968)[1] who was the political leader of the Sudan African National Union, SANU, rom 1962 to 1968. and Nhial Deng Nhial, senior political figure in South Sudan.