Dalton, New South Wales

Dalton
New South Wales

Dalton hotel
Dalton
Coordinates 34°43′0″S 149°12′0″E / 34.71667°S 149.20000°E / -34.71667; 149.20000Coordinates: 34°43′0″S 149°12′0″E / 34.71667°S 149.20000°E / -34.71667; 149.20000
Population 108 (2011 census)[1]
Postcode(s) 2581
Location
LGA(s) Upper Lachlan Shire
State electorate(s) Goulburn
Federal Division(s) Hume

Dalton /ˈdəltən/ is a small inland country town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Upper Lachlan Shire. Dalton is north of the Hume Highway that joins Sydney and Melbourne, between Goulburn and Yass in southern New South Wales, 255 kilometres (158 mi) southwest of Sydney and 79 kilometres (49 mi) north of the national capital, Canberra. Nearby towns are Cullerin, Gundaroo, Gunning, Yass, and Murrumbateman.

Economy

The Monaro region is renowned for its sheep wool industry, notably for the Merino breed. The dry-land farming supports both summer and winter wheat, and some other cereal crops, but agriculture also extends to cattle production for meat.[2]

The vibrancy of Dalton's heyday in the 19th century as a sheep-shearing centre is gone, lost in 1875[3] when the train line was routed through nearby Gunning rather than Dalton. Today the town is taking on a new role as a rural-residential centre, with generally well-maintained wide streets and churches, a school, a viable hotel (pub), post office services, and a petrol station.

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Geology and earthquakes

The underlying rock strata of the region from Dalton to Lake George some 40 kilometres (25 mi) east is geologically active, with the lake formed along a fault system running north-south.[4]

Dalton has a significantly higher rate of earthquakes and tremors than the background rate for the eastern highlands of Australia, and because their foci are very shallow (usually less than 1 km deep) the damage they cause is often disproportionately high: events as low as magnitude ML3.0 have damaged buildings in the region.[5]

Significant earthquakes centred on Dalton/Gunning include an ML5.3 event on 5 July 1888 that was felt in Sydney[6] and represents the first record of seismic activity in the area;[7] the largest recorded event - an ML5.6 event on 18 November 1934 that was also felt in Sydney and agitated the water in the Manuka Pool in Canberra;[8] an ML5.5 event on 10–11 March 1949[9] that caused minor cracking in Canberra buildings;[10] and the ML4.3 Oolong event on 9 August 1984 which damaged Oolong Homestead and the Anglican Church.[5]

Several amateur geologists in Dalton and the surrounding region have seismic recorders that automatically send data to Geoscience Australia.

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics (31 October 2012). "Dalton (State Suburb)". 2011 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  2. ↑ Farming Systems (South) n.d., NSW Department of Primary Industries, viewed 31 October 2015 at http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/research/areas/productivity/s-farming-systems
  3. ↑ Gunning Railway Precinct, 2009, NSW Government Office of Environment & Heritage,27 October, viewed on 31 October 2015, at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4806268
  4. ↑ Leiba, Marion (December 2007). Earthquakes in the Canberra Region. Canberra: Geoscience Australia. p. 22. ISBN 9781921236402.
  5. 1 2 McCue, K., Kennett, B.L.N., Gaull, B.A., Michael-Leiba, M.O., Weekes, J. & Krayshck, C. (1989). “A century of earthquakes in the Dalton-Gunning region of New South Wales”. BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 11, 1-9.
  6. ↑ EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. (1888, July 14). South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1881 - 1889), p. 11. Viewed October 31, 2015, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94766241
  7. ↑ McCue, K., Kennett, B.L.N., Gaull, B.A., Michael-Leiba, M.O., Weekes, J. & Krayshck, C. (1989). “A century of earthquakes in the Dalton-Gunning region of New South Wales”. BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 11, 1-9
  8. ↑ McCue, K., Kennett, B.L.N., Gaull, B.A., Michael-Leiba, M.O., Weekes, J. & Krayshck, C. (1989). “A century of earthquakes in the Dalton-Gunning region of New South Wales”. BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 11, 1-9, viewed 31 October 2015, at http://www.ga.gov.au/corporate_data/81236/Jou1989_v11_n1_p001.pdf
  9. ↑ Joklok, G.F., (1949). Dalton-Gunning Area, NSW Earth Tremors of March 1949. Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics, Canberra. viewed 31 October 2015, at http://www.ga.gov.au/corporate_data/9548/Rec1949_038.pdf
  10. ↑ Michael-Leiba, M. (1994). Fluctuations in seismicity in the Dalton area, NSW, Australia, and their relevance to earthquake forecasting. AGSO Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics, 15(3), 329-333. viewed 31 October 2015, at http://www.ga.gov.au/corporate_data/81400/Jou1994_v15_n3_p329.pdf

External links

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