As Yass Valley residents slept on Monday night, the earth shook.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Between 2-3am, the region experienced two minor magnitude 1.6 and 1.1 earthquakes, separated by around 20 minutes.
Did you feel it? A Geoscience Australia spokesperson said given the times of the earthquakes and that the agency didn't receive any reports from residents, it was unlikely that anyone felt them.
"Unless they were on a property much closer to the epicentres," they said.
The epicentres were north of Yass, near Blakney Creek. However, several stations in Dalton, Young and Canberra also recorded the earthquakes.
According to the spokesperson, Monday's earthquakes followed two other, small earthquakes in the region, in late February.
"It is not possible to say whether more earthquakes are likely in the coming months," the spokesperson said. "The Yass area has experienced earthquakes in the past and will continue to do so into the future."
The largest earthquake on record for the area was estimated to be a magnitude 5.6 in 1934, near Gunning.
Geoscience Australia's seismic network shows there have been 12 earthquakes in the past 12 months, within a 50 kilometre radius of the area.
On average, the area experiences ten earthquakes per year, with a magnitude range of 1.1-2.8, according to the spokesperson. Only 15 earthquakes have been estimated to be greater than magnitude 5, since 1886.
There are small faults (breaks in the earth's surface that can cause earthquakes) all over Australia, including near Yass, the spokesperson said.
They said that while there are larger faults near Lake George and Murrumbidgee, it was rare for large earthquakes to occur on those structures.