Centre points of Australia are those geographical locations that have been considered to be ''centre'' of Australia, as distinct from the

extreme points of Australia This is a list of the extreme points of Australia (the country, not the continent). The list includes extremes of cardinal direction, elevation, and other points of peculiar geographic interest. The location of some points depend on whether is ...

Finding the centre point

John McDouall Stuart wrote "Sunday, 22 April 1860, Small Gum Creek, under

Mount Stuart Mount Stuart is a mountain in the Cascade Range, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is the second highest non-volcanic peak in the state, after Bonanza Peak and seventh-highest overall. Mount Stuart is the highest peak in the Stuart Range, a ...

, Centre of Australia - today I find from my observations of the sun, 111° 00' 30", that I am now camped in the centre of Australia. I have marked a tree and planted the British flag there." Below are five methods which have been used to locate the centre point of Australia:

Centre of gravity method

23 degrees 7 minutes south latitude, 132 degrees 8 minutes east longitude (); position on SF53-13 Hermannsburg 1:250 000 and 5351 Glen Helen 1:100 000 scale maps.

Furthest point from the coastline (pole of inaccessibility)

23 degrees 2 minutes south latitude, 132 degrees 10 minutes east longitude (); position on SF53-13 Hermannsburg 1:250 000 and 5351 Glen Helen 1:100 000 scale maps.

Median point

The median point was calculated as the midpoint between the extremes of latitude and longitude of the continent. It is 24 degrees 15 minutes south latitude, 133 degrees 25 minutes east longitude (); position on SG53-01 Henbury 1:250 000 and 5549 James 1:100 000 scale maps.

Lambert Gravitational Centre

In 1988, the

Royal Geographical Society of Australasia On 22 June 1883, the Geographical Society of Australasia started at a meeting in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A branch was formed in Victoria in the same year. In July 1885, both the Queensland and the South Australian branches started. ...

determined the geographical centre of Australia as a Bicentennial project. A monument was erected to mark the location and named in honour of Dr. Bruce Philip Lambert, a former Director of the Division of National Mapping, for his achievements in the national survey, levelling and mapping of the continent. The plaque contains an error, as Lambert died in 1990, not 1992. Similar to the centre-of-gravity method, the location was calculated from 24,500 points at the high-water mark of Australia's coastline. The computed result of the 1988 project was 25 degrees 36 minutes 36.4 seconds south latitude, 134 degrees 21 minutes 17.3 seconds east longitude (); position on SG53-06 Finke 1:250 000 and 5746 Beddome 1:100 000 scale maps. Dr.

Cecil Madigan Cecil Thomas Madigan (15 October 1889 – 14 January 1947) was an Australian explorer and geologist, academic, aerial surveyor, meteorologist, author and officer of the British army. He was born in Renmark, South Australia. His family had associ ...

studied Central Australian geology in the 1930s. He calculated the centre of gravity by using a metal cut-out of Australia with a plumb bob and string, and selected a point less than 11 kilometres due west of this present position.

Johnston Geodetic Station

This trigonometric survey cairn, situated about north of Mount Cavanagh Homestead, was built by officers of the Division of National Mapping in 1965, and was once the central reference point for all Australian surveys. It was named after Fredrick Marshall Johnston, former Commonwealth Surveyor General and the first Director of National Mapping. Today, surveys are based on the Geocentric Datum of Australia (GDA), a new and more accurate Australian coordinate system which has replaced the Australian Geodetic Datum (AGD) of which the Johnston station is a major part. Further information on datum types and their applications is available from the geodesy pages, or from the Inter-governmental Committee on Surveying & Mapping (ICSM). This point is at 25° 56' 49.3" South, 133° 12' 34.7" East; position on SG53-05 Kulgera 1:250 000 and 5546 Kulgera 1:100 000 scale maps.

Centre of population

Australia's centre of population in June 2016 was approximately east of the town of Ivanhoe in western New South Wales. Australia has not seen its population centroid move drastically since the creation of the country. In 1911, the centroid was in central

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

; in 1996, it was only slightly further northwest.

Centre of the Australian states

Just as there are various ways to calculate the centre of Australia as a whole there are various methods of calculating the centre of the states. However, the Government body responsible for determining such matters,

Geoscience Australia Geoscience Australia is an agency of the Australian Government. It carries out geoscientific research. The agency is the government's technical adviser on all aspects of geoscience, and custodian of the geographic and geological data and knowle ...

, has adopted the following locations as the official

centroid In mathematics and physics, the centroid, also known as geometric center or center of figure, of a plane figure or solid figure is the arithmetic mean position of all the points in the surface of the figure. The same definition extends to any ...

for each of the States:Geoscience Australia
/ref> * The Geographic Centre of

centre is located just off Cockies Road, 33 km west-north-west of

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

110 km west of Dubbo. (32° 09' 48" South, 147° 01' 00"

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

) * The Geographical Centre of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

, is located 17 km north-west of Muttaburra. (22° 29' 13" South, 144° 25' 54" East) * The Geographic Centre 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 ...

is 12 km north-east of the Mount Eba cattle station south-west of

Lake Eyre Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains th ...

. (30° 03' 30" South, 135° 45' 48" East) * The Geographic Centre of

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

is found on the western shore of Little Pine Lagoon. (42° 01' 17" South, 146° 35' 36" East) * The Geographic Centre of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

is located around 10 km south-south-east of Bendigo, on the steps of the Mandurang Uniting Church. (36° 51' 15" South, 144° 16' 52" East) * The Geographic Centre of

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 th ...

is in the Gascoyne Region. (25° 19' 41" South, 122° 17' 54" East)

Centre of the Australian Territories

The Geographic Centre of the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. I ...

is at the former site of the

Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station (Honeysuckle Creek) was a NASA Earth station in Australia near Canberra, and was instrumental to the Apollo Program. The station was opened in 1967 and closed in 1981. History Honeysuckle Creek – with a ...

. (35° 29' 24" South, 149° 00' 05" East) The Geographic Centre of 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 Aust ...

is approximately 91 km west-north-west of Tennant Creek. (19° 23' 00" South, 133° 21' 28" East)

References

{{Reflist, 32em

External links

Centre of Australia States and Territories

Australia Geography of Australia