A town divided and a very big post
A lovely day for a detour
Crossing the border into Queensland between Moree and St George takes you through the country town of Mungindi, straddling the Barwon River. It is the only border town in Australia with the same name in two states and a police station on each side of the border. It also runs on two time zones in Summer when the southern states move to daylight savings. As well as these unique features the town is home to a remarkable piece of Australian history.
Heading north out of town we passed a sign to the ‘One Ton Post’. It sounded familiar from my hours of research for our trip, but I hadn’t made any notes about it, so I wasn’t sure what its significance was. But it was a lovely day for a detour (it usually is a lovely day for a detour), and we made the left turn off Carnarvon Highway to explore.
6 km from town on the banks of the river is an original survey peg, placed by the fair hands of JB Cameron. Carved with his name over a century ago, the post marks the end of end of the three year task of surveying the twenty-ninth parallel (degree of latitude) in October 1881. The first official survey of the border between what were then the separate colonies of New South Wales and Queensland.
Beginning in 1879 at Zero Obelisk at Barrigun, the surveyors worked west for over 12 months until they intersected the border of South Australia at Cameron Corner. In 1881 Cameron returned to complete the eastern section and placed this enormous peg (all one ton of it) on the western bank of the Barwon.
As well as the survey peg under its corrugated iron shelter, nearby there is a fencers hut filled with historic artifacts and information to educate you about life in this time.
