geographic centre of australia

Submitted: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:05
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Does anyone know the co-ordinates for the geographic centre of Australia?
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Reply By: Willem - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:16

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:16
Lambert Centre between Kulgera and Finke

As taken from Geoscience website:

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.

Google it to get more info
AnswerID: 173201

Follow Up By: Member - Jay Gee (WA) - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:29

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:29
Thanks Willem
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Follow Up By: Gramps (NSW) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 00:54

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 00:54
Willem,

Interesting but I have read somewhere that the marker at Lambert Centre is not quite correct. Can't remember how much it's out by but it is a reasonable amount. Hmmm ...... have to start digging around for the reference.
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Follow Up By: David from David and Justine Olsen's 4WD Tag-Along - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 02:59

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 02:59
That's a pretty soft looking dune Willem
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Follow Up By: Willem - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:38

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:38
Al

Maybe this is it:

Johnston Geodetic Station
This trigonometric survey cairn, situated about one kilometre north of Mt Cavenagh Homestead, was built by officers of the Division of National Mapping in December 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).

Location: 25 degrees 56 minutes 49.3 seconds south latitude, 133 degrees 12 minutes 34.7 seconds east longitude; position on SG53-05 Kulgera 1:250,000 and 5546 Kulgera 1:100,000 scale maps.

OR

Whilst drought and extreme heat thwarted Sturt's attempts, little did he envisage that one of his party, John McDowall Stuart would instead, sixteen years later, claim the mantle of reaching the geographic centre…

"Sunday, 22 April 1860, Small Gum Creek, under Mount Stuart, 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."1

1 T. Flannery (ed.), The Explorers, The Text Publishing Company, Melbourne,1998.

Cheers
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Follow Up By: Willem - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:43

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:43
David

Yes, the sand was powdery, extremely fine, having been blown there over the past 6 months or so.

Using my car rubber floor mats under the rear wheels and dropping the pressure to 9psi in the tyres, I was able to drive out first go in 2nd low.Then there was the next part of the dune to cross but a swift depression of the accellerator(kick in the guts), saw me clear the obstacle without too much fuss....:-)

Cheers
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Follow Up By: Member - Coyote (SA) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:05

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:05
Geez Willem, your list of "stuff" for your Rig is longer than Roachies....
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Follow Up By: Gramps (NSW) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 16:30

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 16:30
Willem,

I remember 22 April 1860 like it was yesterday :)))) Looks like I was totally confused again (situation normal according to SWMBO). Thanks for taking the trouble to clear that up for me.
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Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, May 19, 2006 at 07:15

Friday, May 19, 2006 at 07:15
Hi Coyote

Hmmm not quite......lol.....but I reckon it comes close. Still you can hardly see anything in my vehicle as I have it packed in such a way that it can still be used as a commuter if necessary.

Cheers
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Reply By: Rick (S.A.) - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:34

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:34
Interesting Q, this one.

In fact, how do you define the "centre"?

Is it the point most distant from the sea? Certainly interested in the location.

Here 's another google sourced definition:

Lambert Centre
Recent research and calculations, instigated by the Royal Geographical Society of Australia, Queensland and carried out by the Queensland Department of Geographic Information show that Central Mount Stuart is not the geographic centre of Australia, but lies near Finke, some 400km to the south.
The recently calculated geographical centre is at 25º36'36."4S and 134º21'17."3E, approximately 200km south of Alice Springs. The centre is known as the Lambert Centre, the Geographic Centre of Australia.
Following receipt of the calculation the RGSA, Queensland, placed a plaque on the site in 1988.
The Lambert Centre was calculated as the "centre of gravity" of Australia, with the centre of gravity being as defined in the Macquarie Dictionary as "that point of a body from which it could be suspended, or on which it could be supported and be in equilibrium in any position, in a uniform gravitational field." ¹

From the Geoscience Australia website:
Officially, there is no centre of Australia. This is because there are many complex but equally valid methods that can determine possible centres of a large, irregularly-shaped area - especially one that is curved by the earth's surface.

cheers

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Follow Up By: Member- Rox (WA) - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 21:35

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 21:35
And lots of Flies when I was there :-(((
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Follow Up By: Member No 1- Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 07:42

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 07:42
but it could be the dead centre of oz ...if someone was buried there
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Reply By: HJ60-2H - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:50

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 20:50
The centre of the Earth would be the exact centre of Australia ( & any other land mass).
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Follow Up By: Rick (S.A.) - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 21:03

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 21:03
ha ha. LOL
very good, I like your thinking
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 14:44

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 14:44
Maybe - but certainly not the Geographic (land surface) Centre as was being discussed.
Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: HJ60-2H - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 18:01

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 18:01
Geezz you are a bit hard on an old digger!

Since when on this Forum does a response have to directly relate the origional post?? Take a look down the page to see what I mean!!

BTW if you are getting technical and want to define "Australia" as "land surface area" are we talking about MWL, high tide, low tide etc? Maybe out to our ecominc zone, or continential shelf. I am sure that land surface area doesn't have a geaographical definition
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 19:26

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 19:26
Apologies - no offence intended was just pointing out we were talking about the geographic centre. Not sure how subsurface Australia is defined ..but assuming it does somehow extend to the centre of the earth and with further consideration of your comment on what is the "centre" ... wouldnt the center of the earth be the bottom of Australia (or is that Wilcania:)? The actual centre would then be somewhere between the bottom (centre of earth) ,the top (Australian land surface) and the sides (lines extending from official country boundary to centre of earth)?
Yours in fun
Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: HJ60-2H - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 20:08

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 20:08
Accepted. Lets simplyfy the definition and say the geographic centre is the point which is equidistant between all of your favourite breweries. That way we can all have our own centres and be happy with it and spend hours justifying it!
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 20:29

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 20:29
Sounds like fun - does anyone have waypoints for all brewries/pubs - I think I am currently way off centre
Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Reply By: Member - Cocka - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 22:42

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 at 22:42
I remember from some time back this same question.
There have been calculations based on three differing opinions

1. That point at which, if an outline of the mainland were cut out in a flat solid material, and balanced upon a sharp object until the balance point were found, or

2. If a rectangle was drawn along the most N. S. E. & W. extremities of the mainland and diagonal cross made in the rectangle, the point at the cross and

3. The furtherest point from the sea in any direction

The interesting conclusion was that they were all not that far from each other as I remember.

AnswerID: 173253

Follow Up By: madcow - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:14

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:14
My understanding is the first opinion. Wonder if the Visitor's book is still in place? Interesting spot though!
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Follow Up By: Willem - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:47

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 08:47
Madcow

Yep, the visitors book is still there and a brand new Australian flag is flying

We camped there about 2 weeks ago
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Follow Up By: Member - MUZBRY VIC) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 12:53

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 12:53
Gday Cocka
The farthest place from the ocean in any direction in the land of Aus is at a place called ..EROMANGA ...in QLD.....We know this for a fact ...it was under the lid of a Carlton Draught stubby .
Muzbry
Great place to be Mt Blue Rag 27/12/2012

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Reply By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 10:54

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 10:54
G'day Jay Gee,

This is what it looked like when we were there last year.



Kind regards
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Follow Up By: V8Diesel - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:13

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:13
Very Parliament House looking isn't it.
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Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:18

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:18
I thought so too - just missing the green grass.

Kind regards
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Follow Up By: V8Diesel - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:51

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:51
Seeing as there's an oversupply of bullsh*t at the real one - perhaps they could spare a bit for fertiliser to green up the centre;-)
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Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:58

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 11:58
Too right mate, a couple of tonnes from there will hardly be noticed. It will need a lake in front to keep it moist though.

Kind regards
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Follow Up By: V8Diesel - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 12:48

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 12:48
With the number of people p*ssing in each others pockets in Cantberra, that shouldn't be a problem either;-)

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Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 12:59

Thursday, May 18, 2006 at 12:59
I think that the problem with this approach is that the drug and alcohol content might be a little high to nourish the lawn.

Kind regards
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