 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
The landborder of Western Australia (WA) bisectsmainland Australia nominally alongthe 129th meridian eastlongitude (129° east). That land border divides WA from theNorthern Territory (NT) andSouth Australia (SA). The actual border (as surveyed and marked or otherwise indicated on the ground) deviates from 129° east and is not a single straight line.[1]
The Western Australian town closest to the border isKununurra, which lies about 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of the border with the NT. The settlement outside WA that is closest to the border isBorder Village, SA, which adjoins the border; the centre of Border Village is about 250 metres (820 ft) from the border, on theEyre Highway.
In some cases, the physical signage and structures that mark the actual border deviate from the 129th meridian. TheNorthern Territory border with Western Australia lies approximately 127 metres (417 ft) to the west of theSouth Australian border with Western Australia, as a result of errors caused by the technical limits of surveying technology in the 1920s.[1]
Since the 1920s, the border has included an approximately 127-metre (417 ft) east–west area, which runs along the26th parallel southlatitude (26° south),[1] immediately west ofSurveyor Generals Corner – the point at which WA, SA and the NT all meet. In June 1968, monuments were erected to mark both ends of this 127-metre (417 ft) east–west line.[1]
In 1788,Governor Arthur Phillip claimed the continent of Australia as far west as the135th meridian east (135° east) in accordance with his commission.[2] (26 January 1788 – MAP)
It has been suggested that the 1788 claim by the British of 135° east was in reference toSpain's claims under theTreaty of Tordesillas. Spain was seen as no longer having an interest in the area. The other signatories to the treaty, thePortuguese, still had a presence inMacau andEast Timor. Adoption of 135° east as a boundary was designed minimize provocation of the Portuguese. By 1825, Britain was powerful enough and decided to adopt the original line of the Portuguese under the treaty, 129° east.[3]
The line of 129° east first became a border in Australia as the western border ofNew South Wales(NSW) in 1825 (16 July 1825 – MAP).
On 16 July1825, the western boundary of New South Wales was relocated at 129° east to take in the new settlement atMelville Island.[4]
From 1825 to 1829, 129° east was the NSW border. The settlement ofKing George's Sound, nowAlbany, was part of New South Wales – asemi-exclave of New South Wales – from its establishment on 26 December 1826 until 7 March 1831 when it was made part of the Swan River Colony.[5]
Following the settlement of theSwan River Colony (SRC) in1829 (2 May 1829 – MAP), the eastern boundary was declared to be 129° east, coinciding with the western boundary of New South Wales at the time.[6]
The SRC, started in 1829, was commissioned as the colony of Western Australia in March1831.[7]
From 1829 to 1832, 129° east existed as the SRC/NSW border.
The name of the Swan River Colony changed to Western Australia in 1832 (6 February 1832 – MAP).
From 1832 to 1846, 129° east existed as the WA/NSW border.
In 1846, the colony ofNorth Australia (NA) was proclaimed by Letters Patent. This consisted of all of New South Wales north of 26° south. (17 February 1846 – Map).
From 1846 to 1847, 129° east was the WA/NA border north of 26° south and the WA/NSW border south of the 26th parallel.
In 1847 the North Australia colony was revoked and reincorporated into New South Wales. (15 April 1847 – MAP).
From 1847 to 1860 129° east was once again the WA/NSW border.
In 1860 South Australia, which had been proclaimed a colony in 1836 (28 December 1836 – MAP), west to the132° east, changed their western border from 132° east to 129° east (1860 – MAP).
From 1860 to 1863, 129° east was the WA/NSW border north of 26° south and the WA/SA border south of the 26th parallel.
In 1863, the part of New South Wales to the north of South Australia was annexed to South Australia by Letters Patent and became known as the Northern Territory of South Australia (NToSA). (6 July 1863 – MAP).
From 1863 to 1911, 129° east was the WA/NToSA border north of 26° south and the WA/SA border south of the 26th parallel.
In 1911, theNorthern Territory (NT) was split off from South Australia to be administered by the Commonwealth. (1 January 1911 – MAP). From 1911 to 1927, 129° east served as the WA/NT border north of 26° south and the WA/SA border south of the 26th parallel.
In 1927, the Northern Territory was split into two territories,North Australia (NA) andCentral Australia (CA). (1 March 1927 – MAP).
From 1927 to 1931, 129° east was once again the WA/NA border and WA/CA border, both north of 26° south and the WA/SA border south of the 26th parallel.
In 1931, North Australia and Central Australia were reunited as the Northern Territory.(12 June 1931 – MAP).
From 1931 to the present, 129° east has been the WA/NT border north of 26° south and the WA/SA border south of the 26th parallel.
Fixing the position of the border of Western Australia on the ground has a rich history. The border of Western Australia has been discussed several times. In March 1920, theWestern Australian Government Astronomer,Harold Curlewis gave a talk at the WA Museum about the history of the determination oflongitude by using the newly developedwireless time signals to determine the position of the border between South Australia and Western Australia, as close to the 129th east meridian as possible.[8]
Preliminary work on the border determinations began inNovember 1920 when theSouth Australian Government Astronomer for South Australia,G. F. Dodwell and theWestern Australian Government Astronomer,Harold Curlewis met atDeakin, Western Australia on theEast-West Trans-Australian Railway:[9]
The other members of the party were Messrs,Clive Melville Hambidge and J. Crabb, of the Survey Department; Warrant Officer V. D. Bowen, in charge of wireless apparatus lent by the Defense Department; and Mr. C. A. Maddern, of theAdelaide Observatory, all from Adelaide.
Concrete piers for the astronomical observing instruments were erected in readiness for the final determinations that were to be held in 1921. Observations were made, for the purpose of testing under field conditions, the instruments and methods to be used in 1921.[9]
This expedition, to determine 129° east on the ground, created worldwide scientific interest and involved the cooperation of theAstronomer Royal and theRoyal Observatory, Greenwich, withwireless time signals sent by the French Wireless Service, that were transmitted from theLyon Observatory atSaint-Genis-Laval, nearLyon, France, between 17 November and 24 November, 1920. Wireless time signals were also sent from the Adelaide Observatory, transmitted by the Adelaide Radio Station, to enable the beats of the Adelaide sidereal clock to be used as a control on the rate of the chronometer used for the boundary observation.[9]
After these initial tests, a comprehensive program was then arranged for the second stage of border determinations, which were to take place during the following year, from 20 April to 10 May 1921.[9]
One of the concrete piers mentioned, which were cubic concrete blocks slightly smaller than one cubic metre (35 cu ft), would later be named as the Deakin Pillar (1921), being from where the larger border marker, the DeakinObelisk (1926), would be set out from.[1]
The Deakin Pillar is approximately 2.82 kilometres (1.75 mi) west of the Deakin Obelisk. The Deakin Obelisk was erected as closely as was possible with the technology of1926 to 129° east.[1]
The Deakin Obelisk has a copper plug embedded into the top centre of the concrete obelisk, which determines on the ground, the South Australian border with Western Australia by a line drawn south to the coastline of theGreat Australian Bight and north through this point to 26° south.[1]
Shortly after the1921 determinations of the border of South Australia and Western Australia, theSouth Australian Government Astronomer,G. F. Dodwell and theWestern Australian Government Astronomer,H. B. Curlewis and party travelled by theState Ship Bambra to the port ofWyndham, Western Australia.[10]
From Wyndham, they were guided byMichael Patrick ("M.P.") Durack to a point he perceived as the northern boundary between hisArgyle Downs Station and Jack Kilfoyle's Rosewood Station, which was also Western Australia's border with the Northern Territory or 129° east.[10] Most of Rosewood station is in the Northern Territory, but Rosewood also extends further south into the East Kimberley Region of Western Australia.
Two concrete pillars were erected and portable radio masts set up before the determinations were carried out by the scientists using the same methods of wireless time signals as were used at Deakin.[10]
One of the concrete pillars erected, the one used as the point of the determinations, was marked by the expedition party to show the distance of Greenwich. This became known as the Austral Pillar.[1]
The Austral Pillar would later be found to be about 2 km east from the border of 129° east on that part of Rosewood Station, therefore inside the Northern Territory.[1]
The Kimberley Obelisk was erected as closely as was possible to 129° east. Over several weeks in1927, a Western Australiansurvey crew from the WADepartment of Lands and Surveys travelled to Wyndham, then to the Austral Pillar site to set out from that point to the border, where they then erected the much more substantial Kimberley Obelisk.[1]
The Kimberley Obelisk has a copper plug embedded into the top of the concrete obelisk, which officially determines the WA/NT border on the ground, near 129° east, by a line drawn north to the northern coastline near theJoseph Bonaparte Gulf and south through this point at the Kimberley Obelisk to the 26th parallel.[1]
