Cameron Corner

Corner Country Map

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Cameron Corner See & Do

Cameron Corner See & Do...

• Cameron Corner Survey Marker
• Stand in 3 states at once (New South Wales, QLD & SA)
• Visit the iconic Cameron Corner store
• Journey through Sturt National Park (Western section)
• Visit the Dog Fence
• Visit Fort Grey (on the way)
• Marvel at the Waka claypan

Cameron Corner History

Cameron Corner History:

Cameron Corner was named after the New South Wales surveyor, John Brewer Cameron.

The official survey of the 29th parallel was conducted by J. B. Cameron (New South Wales) and G. C. Watson (Queensland) in the period 1879 to 1881. An account of the survey of the 29th parallel reported by W. D. Campbell in The Surveyor in 1895 states:

"The final determination for the 29th parallel was commenced in 1879 on the responsibility of the Occupation Crown Lands Branch. The annual report of that branch for the year 1879 stated that 450,000 acres on the Queensland border cannot be leased until the position of that border has been determined.

Preliminary work was undertaken by Mr W J Conder, superintendent of the trigonometrical survey, New South Wales, who observed the latitude of Barringun, a border township on the Warrego River with a zenith telescope, having a 21/4 inch objective glass and 30-inch focal length. The latitudes, of three other stations, were also observed and connected with it by traverse, and the mean of a large number of observations for the value of each station was deduced.

The difference in longitude between this station and Sydney was then determined by the telegraphic interchange of star observation and clock signals with the Sydney Observatory. The position for the border and the longitude of a point on it having been thus fixed, and the direction of the true meridian being found by azimuth observations of stars, the work was continued by Mr John Cameron, Geodetic Surveyor, New South Wales, in conjunction with Mr George Chale Watson, representing Queensland.

These gentlemen started the survey westerly on 15th September 1879, from a point on the east bank of the Warrego River. There the surveyors erected the zero obelisks [see figure 8]. The first five-mile chord was then produced westerly and the mileposts offset from this chord to the arc, and so continued until the 141st meridian was reached, a distance of 285 miles 24.96 chains. The latitudes of five stations, averaging fifty miles apart, were also taken with the zenith telescope with an average error of 11/4 seconds between the observed value and surveyed line; every part was chained at least twice and some portions several times. The line was marked by well-squared posts at every mile, concrete obelisks at the extremities of the initial five-mile chords, east and west and two brick obelisks at Hungerford, and permanent marks at all important points."

About The Area

Cameron Corner (aka Camerons Corner) is the surveyed north-west corner of Outback NSW and named after surveyor John Brewer Cameron who marked the border between New South Wales and Queensland for the NSW Lands Department in 1880. Once the Corner was marked, his job was then to travel east, back to the coast, placing a marker every mile along what would become the interstate boundary; a task that took two years to complete. While not actually on the Darling River, it is one destination that should be included in the iconic Darling River Run touring route; one of the best in Outback NSW!

Before Cameron surveyed the area, famous explorer Charles Sturt led an expedition from Adelaide in 1844 in search of the fabled inland sea, and many places of the Corner Country were integral in the party's journey north; none more so than Depot Glen, a permanent supply of water near Milparinka. This oasis in the desert was the saving grace for many, but not all, in this and other expedition through the outback.

The area around Cameron Corner, known as the Corner Country, encompasses the towns of Packsaddle, Tibooburra, Milparinka and Cameron Corner itself, a small one shop/pub settlement just over the border in Queensland. Also within the region is Sturt National Park, NSW's largest park which covers 340,000 hectares and spans the dunes of the Strzelecki Desert across the ancient mesas of the Grey Range and Mt King (the Jump-Ups) and to the gibber plains, gorges and hills of Mount Wood.

The northern and western boundaries of the Corner is made of the Dog Fence, the world's longest fence at 5,614 kilometres that runs from near Dalby on Queensland’s Darling Downs to Cameron Corner and then onto the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.

When I reflect back upon my travels throughout Australia, I realise that often I am attracted by a point on a map that draws me in to ponder, 'now, that would be a great end-point to a journey'.

Rarely are these places a few hours away, more often than not, they are a couple of days drive away as they are the true adventures.

One of my first ever big adventures into the outback was to Cameron Corner, the point at which New South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland meet. The adventure though is not just about a drive from one point to another, but an opportunity to experience the outback landscape, its pastoral and indigenous history, as well as a way to connect with the courageous (but often foolhardy) efforts of the explorers that ventured into the interior during the later parts of the 1800s.

The Jump-Ups, Sturt National Park, en-route to Warri Gate and Cameron Corner

There is so much to experience in outback Australia, although the uninitiated may perceive there is nothing out there, it just takes one visit to garner insight and understanding about the essence of this wondrous country.