On the way to Harrisville from Warrill View the Historical Marker brown sign appears on a straight section of road. The sign is for a memorial cairn on the side of the road, which otherwise doesn’t stand out as significant from the agricultural land is sits beside.
The memorial was erected May 1988 in honour of a surveyor, Robert Dixon. In October 1839, Robert Dixon established the Normanby Plains Trigonometrical Baseline. The three mile long baseline passed through the point where the cairn lays.
The Normanby Plains Trigonometrical Baseline is significant because it started the first accurate mapping of Queensland. It was “conducted on scientific principles by using a theodolite rather than a compass”, under the direction given by Governor Gipps.
The cairn is easily missed if it were not for the brown sign, as it is surrounded by tall grass along a country road. There isn’t any specific space for parking beside the historical marker, so take care needs to be taken to park on the side of the road.
Normanby Plains is now known as Harrisville. From this historical marker, travel through Harrisville to the Historical Marker Peak Crossing Historical Well.