George Woodroffe Goyder was a surveyor in the Colony of South Australia during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
George Woodroffe Goyder in 1869
Plaque at Melrose, South Australia commemorating George Goyder's line of rainfall, which he determined when Surveyor-General. He correctly judged the rainfall in country inland of the line to be too unreliable for cereal growing.
Goyder's Line is a line that runs roughly east–west across South Australia and, in effect, joins places with an average annual rainfall of 10 inches (250 mm). North of Goyder's Line, annual rainfall is usually too low to support cropping, with the land being suitable only for grazing. Related to that, the line also marks a distinct change in vegetation. To the south, it is composed mainly of mallee scrub, whilst saltbush predominates to the north of the line.
Satellite image of vegetation and desert in South Australia. George Goyder provided advice as to the geographic limits of crop growing in South Australia.