1862 Change to Queensland's western border
The western boundary of the Colony of Queensland was not clearly described in the Letters Patent of 1859:
...downward to the 29th parallel of south latitude and following that parallel westerly to the 141st meridian of east longitude which is the easterly boundary of South Australia...Letters Patent 1859
Legal opinion given at the time stated that the 141st meridian was, in fact, the western boundary of the colony.
In a memorandum to the Governor of Queensland dated 28 September 1860, the Surveyor General of Queensland, A.C. Gregory, described his views on the division of Northern Australia. This was with reference to the adjustment of the political boundaries. On Queensland's western boundary, he said:
The western boundary of Queensland, as at present defined, appears to be the 141st meridian, but it is probable that it was not described in the Letters Patent erecting the Colony, with greater distinctness, expressly with a view to a future adjustment, when more certain information should have been collected as to the natural features of the country.
He went on to say:
It is now submitted that the 141st meridian passes through the tract of country known as the 'Plains of Promise', and that the eastern shore possesses no harbours. It would therefore be desirable to adopt the 138th meridian as the boundary; as that line would pass through a barren tract of country, and bring 'Investigator Road' [harbour] within the limits of Queensland.Gregory AC 1861
In 1861, the South Australian, Victorian and Queensland Governments funded expeditions to rescue Robert O'Hara Burke and his party. They had failed to return from their journey to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1860.
The Queensland Government realised that these expeditions would increase the knowledge of the country in the vicinity of the Gulf. 
On 5 September 1861, Queensland Governor Bowen informed the Secretary of State for the Colonies that Queensland legislature would protect any settlers who moved into the area. This was on the provision that the western boundary of Queensland was extended to include the Gulf of Carpentaria.
This proposal was accepted by the English Government, provided that the Queensland Government understood that the additional territory west of the 138th meridian could be taken back at a later date. This was with a view for the formation of another separate colony in that area.
On 12 April 1862, a supplementary commission altering the boundary of Queensland was issued by the English Government. These Letters Patent described the additional territory annexed to the Colony of Queensland as:
So much of our Colony of New South Wales as there to the northward of the twenty-sixth parallel of south latitude and between the one hundred and forty first and one hundred and thirty-eighth meridians of east longitude, together with all and every, the adjacent islands, their members and appurtenances in the Gulf of Carpentaria.Letters Patent 1862
It was at this stage that the bend in the western boundary of Queensland came into existence.
Return to Establishing Queensland’s borders
Last updated: 22 June 2009