Barry Allwright at Surveyor-Generals Corner

Surveyor Generals Corner (or Surveyor-Generals Corner) is a remote point where the Australian state boundaries of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

meet. These boundaries meet at the easternmost point of the approximately section of the Western Australian border with the Northern Territory border which runs east–west along the

26th parallel south The 26th parallel south latitude is a circle of latitude that is 26 degrees south of Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses the Atlantic Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and South America. Around the world Starti ...

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north po ...

to meet the western boundary of the South Australian border.

History

In 1922 an agreement was signed between the prime minister W. M. Hughes, the acting premier for South Australia, Sir

John George Bice Sir John George Bice (24 June 1853 – 9 November 1923) was a blacksmith and politician in the colony and State of South Australia. History Bice was born in Callington, Cornwall, the son of Samuel Sandoe Bice (died 1903), a mining captain w ...

, and the premier of Western Australia, Sir James Mitchell to set the border along the

129th meridian east The meridian 129° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, Australia, the Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 129th meridian east forms a grea ...

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

and defined the boundary by lines drawn north and south through the centre of the Deakin Obelisk, erected in 1926 near

Deakin, Western Australia Deakin is a remote locality and is the last railway siding in Western Australia on the Trans-Australian Railway, and the closest to the border of Western Australia and South Australia, which is the 129th meridian east. Deakin is important in the ...

and the Kimberley Obelisk, erected in 1927, near

Argyle Downs Argyle Downs is a pastoral lease and cattle station located about south east of Kununurra in the Kimberley region near the border of Western Australia and Northern Territory. It is operated by the Consolidated Pastoral Company. Descriptio ...

, in the

Kimberley Region of Western Australia The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, a ...

. In 1963 when the survey on the ground was continued it was realised that there was no possibility of these lines meeting exactly at the 26th parallel south. In June 1968 two monuments were erected at the junction of the boundaries approximately apart running east–west along the 26th parallel south. The most easterly monument common to all three jurisdictions was named Surveyor Generals Corner at the suggestion of the Director of National Mapping. The site is not named after a single Surveyor-General, because there were a number of them present as follows.

On 4th June 1968, two concrete pillars were completed to mark Surveyor-Generals Corner in the presence V.T. O'Brien, Acting Director of Lands, N.T., P.J. Wells, Acting Surveyor-General, N.T.;H.A. Bailey, Surveyor-General, S.A.;Harold Camm, Surveyor-General, W.A.; and B.M. Allwright, Surveyor, N.T.

Access

From 7 March 2003, access to the area was restricted following a decision by the Irrunytju (Wingellina) Community in whose traditional land the Surveyor Generals Corner is situated. Access to the area is limited to guided tours and visitors require a special permit in addition to the standard Great Central Road transit permit.Surveyor-Generals Corner
at the

Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku The Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku is a remote local government area in Western Australia near the Northern Territory/South Australian border. It is from Perth. It was formed on 1 July 1993 following a report of the Local Government Boundaries Commi ...

The nearest settlement is the Aboriginal community of

Kalka Kalka is a town in the Panchkula district of Haryana, India. It is near Panchkula city. The name of the town is derived from the Hindu goddess Kali. It is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and is a gateway to the neighbouring state ...

in South Australia, situated on the

Gunbarrel Highway The Gunbarrel Highway is an isolated desert track in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. It consists of about of washaways, heavy corrugations, stone, sand and flood plains. The Gunbarrel Highway connects Victory ...

just a few kilometres to the south. There are three occurrences of

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the December 31, last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly ...

at Surveyor Generals Corner (also in Cameron Corner and

Poeppel Corner Poeppel Corner (known as Poeppel's Corner in Queensland) at latitude 26° S and longitude 138° E is a corner of state boundaries in Australia, where the state of Queensland meets South Australia and the Northern Territory. Geography Poeppel ...

), because it is located at the intersection of three

time zones Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

References

External links

* {{coord, -25.9986, 129.0018, region:AU_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Borders of South Australia Borders of Western Australia Borders of the Northern Territory Border tripoints

History

Access

See also

References

External links