named-checkconf throwing error on previously functioning forward zone file

I wanted to add a zone to my bind9 configuration (BIND 9.16.1). I have about 20 domains serviced by this name server, most of which have worked for > 10 years.

named-checkconf is throwing errors on the new conf file, but also all the old conf files, even though they still work. I'm not brave enough to reload bind9 in case I am missing something.

I get the following error:

root@ns:/var/cache/bind# named-checkconf test
test:1: unknown option '$ORIGIN'
test:18: unexpected token near end of file
root@ns:/var/cache/bind# cat test
$ORIGIN test.au.
$TTL 3h
@   IN  SOA ns1.example.com.au. david.example.com.au. (
            23042601    # serial
            3h      # refresh
            15m     # retry
            14d     # expire
            12h     # default_ttl
            )
@   IN  NS  ns1.example.com.au.
@   IN  NS  ns2.example.com.au.
@   IN  MX  50  mail.test.au.
@   IN  MX  100 ns.example.com.au.
@   IN  A   123.456.789.1
mail    IN  A   123.456.789.9
www IN  A   123.456.789.1
 
root@ns:/var/cache/bind#

If I put a comment at the beginning, i get a different error thus:

root@ns:/var/cache/bind# named-checkconf test
test:1: syntax error near ';'
root@ns:/var/cache/bind# cat test
; 230426 original
;
$ORIGIN test.au.
$TTL 3h
@   IN  SOA ns.example.com.au.  david.example.com.au. (
etc......

I feel like I'm missing something obvious.

You are running named-checkconf on a zone file but named-checkconf was made to validate the configuration file like named.conf, just use named-checkzone instead.

you should run it like that named-checkzone test.au test