![]() The site was chosen after Finniss's choice at Escape Cliffs had been rejected. The site was chosen for its exceptionally good water supply, and potential for easy communication with the rest of the continent through land or sea transportation. Goyder was sent by the government of South Australia, (of which the Territory was then a part) to lay out the street plans for a capital to be named Palmerston. Goyder's Line was first accepted significantly after a number of dry years, though improved cultivation practices have allowed some expansion in the 1980s and 1990s, despite a couple of very severe droughts.įurther information: Survey parties to the Northern Territory 1864–1870 The many major droughts in the 157 years since have confirmed his view. ![]() The idea was contrary to beliefs widespread at the time and seen by many as ridiculous in a period of great optimism, but after major losses by grain growers near to, or outside of, the line – especially in the droughts of 1881–18–1886 – his judgement proved to have been sound. Goyder recommended that farmers should not attempt to grow cereal crops anywhere outside of the line. The furthest points inland at which crops had not failed, corresponding approximately to the 300-millimetre (12-inch) annual isohyet – figures vary from 250 to 350 millimetres in different publications – were marked as the "Line of Rainfall". Goyder, in the midst of his work in the pastoral zone, was asked to report on the problem and his response was to find out how far south crop failure had been general. However, the 1864–65 drought put paid, at least temporarily, to these ambitions. He correctly judged the rainfall in country inland of the line to be too unreliable for cereal growing.īefore the drought of the mid-1860s, wheat and barley growing had been spreading rapidly further north and the erroneous belief that rain would " follow the plough" led to the idea of cereal crops spreading up to the Northern Territory border. Plaque at Melrose, South Australia commemorating George Goyder's line of rainfall, which he determined when Surveyor-General. Goyder resigned his position as Surveyor-General in 1894, completing a public service career that spanned 41 years. Goyder was also faced with the despair of his wife, Frances Mary Smith, who suffered the loss of twins at birth during George's long travels in the outback. Pastoralists were hit by a major drought in the middle of the decade and complained severely, with many forced to move even relatives away from their cattle stations by the end of 1865. His early years in the role were very difficult, especially his efforts to help establish settlement in the Northern Territory by supervising the establishment of the pastoral leaseholds that continue to the present day. In 1861 he was appointed Surveyor-General. He wrote many letters to newly established pastoralists who had moved into the arid regions for the state's north, and also surveyed the newly establishing mining industry in the Flinders Ranges. In this period he made many expeditions into the outback regions of South Australia, thinking that the water in lakes he saw at the time was fresh and permanent, rather than exceedingly erratic. Goyder was appointed Assistant Surveyor-General circa 1856. He spent time working with an auctioneering firm and moved to Adelaide in 1851, obtaining work as a civil service draftsman. In 1848, at the age of 22, Goyder followed his sister and brother-in-law, George Galbraith MacLachlan (c. He moved to Glasgow with his family where he worked with an engineering firm and studied surveying. Goyder was born in Liverpool, England to Sarah and David George Goyder, the latter a Swedenborgian minister and physician.
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