Newly opened country lands...Ramsay

This map of country areas in South Australia from various regions, shows land for sale by name of Hundred. The detail shows topography, section numbers, description of vegetation, soil and arability of the land. The Hundreds shown are Ramsay, Gregory, Angus, English, Coomooroo, Boolcunda and Kuitpo. These areas were surveyed by the Surveyor-General at that time, George W. Goyder. He believed land should be surveyed before selection was made by would-be purchasers.

George Woodroffe Goyder was born in Liverpool, England in 1826. He emigrated to Sydney in 1848 and subsequently moved to Adelaide and joined the South Australian public service in 1851. Goyder joined the Department of Lands in 1853 and was appointed Surveyor-General in 1861. As Surveyor-General he undertook several surveys in northern South Australia (1857-1866) and was responsible for determining the line of demarcation between agricultural and pastoral land, which became known as Goyder's Line.

The line was based upon a survey of rainfall taken by Goyder, which allowed him to determine which areas received adequate rainfall to support agriculture and which was only suitable for grazing. Demand for more agricultural land and several seasons of above average rainfall encouraged the Government and farmers to ignore Goyder's survey result, and to extend farming to the north of Goyder's Line, resulting in the ruin of many farmers.

Permission to use this item for any purpose, including publishing, is not required from the State Library under these conditions of use.

Buy a high resolution copy.