The earth moves for Western Australia

THE property you thought you owned may now belong to your neighbour – if you still use the old coordinated reference system.

WA’s reference system moved WA 200 metres north-east on Monday when Australia’s geodetic datum or coordinated reference system was brought into line with the rest of the world.

The way Australia references itself changed from the Australian Geodetic Datum to a global centred datum or coordinated reference system resulting in the shift.

Australia mapping system since the 1960s was purposely offset and tilted to more closely fit the Australian region at the expense of compatibility with the world.