I have been to the most Northerly point at Cape York, the most Easterly point at Point Danger, the most South Westerly points at Cameron Corner, Haddon Corner and Poepel Corner but haven't been to the Northwest point or the most Southerly point and since the South point is close enough for a weekend trip I started doing some research.
Nothing! ... I could find absolutely nothing about it so started checking out some maps and found two possible points with a variance of only ten metres or so according to the water in the Dumaresq River, further research found that the actual border between Queensland and New South Wales falls half way between the banks so it really depends on how far apart the two banks were at the two different places.
Setting out from Brisbane in a bit of a heatwave I headed Southwest where after crossing Cunninghams Gap I passed some Bushfires just to the South.
The 250Km of bitumen to Sundown National Park seems to take forever in the hot weather with no aircon.
After spending a night in Sundown I headed the 35Km to Tenterfield where I turned right for Mingoola about 70Kms away.
8Km past Mingoola I needed to turn right over the Hynes Bridge to cross the Dumaresq river back into Queensland and started checking how far south I was, It wasn't long before I found the area close to the Eastern possibility and walked across to the nearby River to check it out.
The Eastern possibility is quite easy to work out as the Southern bank is about 5 metres and the Northern bank is about 4 metres above the water level.
While traversing back and forwards along the river banks I finally found the most southerly point of the Southern bank and discovered a U shaped piece of metal hammered into the ground straight north of it on the northern bank at
S 29.10.652 E 151.23.635
Could this be the point I was looking for?
The sun was getting low as I walked back across the paddock to the 4WD.
As I drove to the top of a hill I realised I would not have time to find the Western possibility that day.
I needed to find a campsite quickly and headed off towards the Western possibility.
Luckily the river runs close to the road giving access to the river bed and a great campsite only 750 Metres from my goal.
I had set the swag up in mossie mode as the temp was still 38C at 10.30 that night and I needed all the breeze I could get.
I packed up camp and started getting ready for a walk to the point in the far distance down the river.
As I scouted along the bank i disturbed a Goanna.
As I walked towards the Western possibility it became clear that this would not be so easy as there appeared to be a few banks on the Northern side, starting from the river opposite the most Southerly part of the South bank, there is a 2 metre high bank of mostly sandy material covered in trees and bushes then the land drops a metre or so and starts a gradual rise in a Northwards direction towards another 2 metre bank at the fence line about 300 metres away, this area is mostly grass covered small stones and sand and would only go under water in rare floods, according to one old timer I met the last big change happened in the 1974 floods.
The river passes a tree on a small island just on the other side of the bank.
It looks like i will need some clarification on which bank to use.
Then it was time to head back to the 4WD and headed for home.
[via the southern end of Sundown National Park]
I did some more checking with various Govt departments and old papers as well as getting a copy of
"Redefining the Queensland-New South Wales Border: Guidelines for surveyors"
I found a little snippet of information that the position of the border is based on the position of the banks in 1859 and property boundries have remained unchanged.
"The bank must be defined in accordance with common law principles that were in affect at the date of the letters patent in 1859"
So looks like another trip down is in order !!
22-12-09:
Once again i headed up over Cunninghams Gap on the way to Mingoola ...
Arriving at the Western possibility i headed out to the spot where the Dumaresq river reaches its most Southerly point and waded across the river to the Southern bank.
I found the most Southern bank and took a measurement S29.10.782 E151.20.325
I then walked the 438 mtres to the Northern bank at S29.10.545 E151.20.325
Then i found the boundary at S29.10.663 E151.20.325
On the way back to the car along the riverbank i nearly jumped on a black snake as i climbed up on a stump to make jumping over the fence easier ... luckily it took off for the waters edge and the long grass.
Next up i headed back to the eastern possibility a few Kilometres away.
I found the marker post at S29.10.349 E151.23.561 and parked the car...
I crossed the paddock and then waded across the river to find the most southerly point of the south bank at S29.10.725 E151.23.575
As the river turns very sharply to the North the closest Northern bank is to the northeast so i found the most southerly part of the Northern bank at S29.10.653 E151.23.634 which makes this spot the Southernmost point of Queensland.
[Just for interest sake the northern bank directly north of the southernmost bank is located at S29.10.614 E151.23.575]
The Border point is located in the water at S29.10.689 E151.23.605
I hammered in a marker post at the Southernmost point to mark the occasion then backtracked to the car and headed off to Victoria for Xmas.
2 comments:
Dude. 250km on a Qld road with no a/c. I'm suffocating just thinking about it.
Thanks Big Red. Fascinating pursuit and mysteriously as you say. the southernmost point of Qld is not apparently recorded elsewhere. Loved your distinction between the southernmist point and the farthest south reach of the Dumaresq River bank.
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