Abstract for an Oral Presentation at the ATNF/AAO Joint Symposium Author : John Dickey, ATNF Title : Measuring the Distance to the Galactic Polarized Continuum using 21-cm Absorptio n Abstract : Using the Compact Array in 210m and 750m configurations, I have detected the polarized component of the Galactic synchrotron background radiation at 18 and 21 cm wavelength in the region of strong linear polarization at (l,b) = (326 - 333, 0 - +3) studied by Duncan et al. (1997). At 21cm the HI line can be seen in absorption toward the Stokes q and u components of the emission at velocities from 0 km/s up to about -40 km/s (LSR). This indictes that the polarized component of the non-thermal Galactic background must originate at least in part from distances greater than 2 kpc from the sun.