Barry Allwright at Surveyor-Generals Corner

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

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

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 Following are circles of latitude between the 25th parallel south and the 30th parallel south: 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 ...

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic 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 t ...

to meet the western boundary of the South Australian border.

History

In 1922 an agreement was signed between the prime minister

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia from 1915 to 1923. He led the nation during World War I, and his influence on national politics s ...

, the acting premier for South Australia,

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 who ...

, and the premier of Western Australia, 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 great ...

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 lett ...

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 t ...

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. Descript ...

, 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, and on ...

. 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.

Access

From 7 March 2003, access to the area was restricted following a decision by the

Irrunytju Wingellina or Irrunytju Community is a small Indigenous Australian community in Western Australia located about north east of Perth near the Western Australian-South Australian border in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia. T ...

(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 The Great Central Road is a mostly unsealed Australian highway that runs from Laverton, Western Australia to Yulara, Northern Territory . It passes through a number of small communities on the way. It forms part of the Outback Way which goes ...

transit permit. 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. Kalka is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas and is a gateway to the neighbouring st ...

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 Corrugated road, corrugations, stone, sand and flood plains. The Gunbarrel Highway c ...

just a few kilometres to the south.

References

External links

* {{coord , 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