While working with unipolar hall-effect senors I checked which face of the bar magnet was the south polar with a compass. The sensor responds to the south magnet but I found that the face that triggered the sensor was the one that the north pointing compass needle pointed to. Looking on wikipedia I found:
"The North geomagnetic pole actually represents the South pole of the Earth's magnetic field, and conversely the South geomagnetic pole corresponds to the north pole of Earth's magnetic field (because opposite magnetic poles attract and the north end of a magnet, like a compass needle, points toward the Earth's South magnetic field, i.e., the North geomagnetic pole near the Geographic North Pole)."
So if the North pole is down there then does that mean Australia is on top and we are on the bottom?
"The North geomagnetic pole actually represents the South pole of the Earth's magnetic field, and conversely the South geomagnetic pole corresponds to the north pole of Earth's magnetic field (because opposite magnetic poles attract and the north end of a magnet, like a compass needle, points toward the Earth's South magnetic field, i.e., the North geomagnetic pole near the Geographic North Pole)."
So if the North pole is down there then does that mean Australia is on top and we are on the bottom?