JULY’S GUEST SPEAKER 

John Parker Retired Surveyor General 

At our last meeting our guest speaker was John Parker, retired Surveyor General. John was a guest speaker last year and spoke about place names worldwide, he offered to come back and last week he did.

This time to give a very interesting talk on issues with Victoria’s borders, not just along the Murray River, but also between Victoria and South Australia and Victoria and Tas-mania. His talk was enhanced by an excellent PowerPoint presentation as he explained how boundaries were determined and how there are still disputes between State Governments over where parts of the boundaries actually are.

The South Australian Border is about 3 kilometers out in places, there is part of the Murray River where the boundary is unknown, and on a small Boundary Islet in Bass Straight you can walk from Victoria to Tasmania. John explained how the boundaries were determined, what the problems are, and that part of the Surveyor General’s role is to determine State Boundaries but is unlikely that these issues will ever be resolved. 

John has other stories to tell and has offered to come back again, if you would like to hear more, please let me know - Ken Rook.