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The problem of the Disputed Territory existed from 1836 to 1914. The 1836 boundary line, determined in England to mark South Australia from New South Wales, was the 141st meridian. The mistake at the beginning was made when a Mr Tyers who was sent from Sydney to locate this meridian on the coast, worked from incorrect maps. Port Phillip’s Superintendent, La Trobe, suggested in 1844 that an actual boundary line be marked. Surveyors Wade (NSW) and White (SA) laid out a line from a point one and a quarter miles west of the Glenelg River, and ending 124 miles inland – one mile and three chains in the Mallee scrub north of Lockhart Sheep Station. South Australia proclaimed this line as the boundary on December 16, 1847. New South Wales proclaimed it on March 4, 1849, and next year White extended the surveyed line to the Murray. All remained quiet until 1868. Ellery, an astronomer at the Melbourne Observatory, calculated the position of the 141st meridian and concluded that the boundary line lay one and three quarter miles to the west of where it should be. The New South Wales astronomer did not agree but stated that the line fell between Wade’s and Ellery’s lines. The colonies agreed that the border line should be the mean between Ellery’s line and that suggested from Sydney. Then South Australia decided to claim the whole strip between Wade’s and Ellery’s lines, but others argued that until a time signal could be telegraphed from Greenwich to enable a true meridian to be calculated, the line could not be accurately fixed. When Ellery finally obtained this, he advised that the border was one and three quarter miles too far to the west. But the Victorian Government refused South Australia’s demand that the territory be returned, arguing that the boundary had been determined originally by mutual agreement. The Disputed Territory (also called ‘no-man’s land’) was at that time merely sheltering evaders of the law from the adjoining colonies. The Privy Council’s decision was in favour of Victorian occupancy. |