Goyder’s Line

Goyder's Line marks the delineation between land in South Australia which receives more than 30 centimetres of rain annually and that which does not. In late 1865, South Australia's surveyor-general, George W. Goyder, was asked to survey the state's north and define the southern extremity of the great drought of 1864-65. It was thought that this would define areas which received enough rain to support agriculture or livestock. Thus, Goyder's Line was established - the areas to the north of the Line were deemed to receive insufficient rain for farming. In the 1870s, however, a series of wet years saw optimistic farmers ignore Goyder's warnings of unreliable rainfall in these areas. When a series of dry seasons occurred in the 1880s many of the farmers were ruined.