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The stone transit piers of Gov. Brisbane's observatory in Parramatta Park
An Observatory was established in 1821 at Parramatta by Governor Thomas Brisbane in what is now Parramatta Park. It was established to serve the community in meteorology, precise location and time keeping information and in astronomy. Today the observatory no longer exists but the stone transit piers on which the telescopes stood remain as a memorial.
Sir Thomas was a keen amateur astronomer. The southern skies were largely uncharted, so this was his opportunity to make fresh scientific discoveries. The telescopes used at Parramatta are now in the collection of the Sydney Observatory.
The Parramatta Observatory had an international reputation in astronomical circles. It is also the place where Surveyor Thomas Mitchell made his initial meridian mark to begin the first trigonometrical survey of Australia, meaning that the location of items on Australian maps is calculated as being east or west of the site of the Parramatta Observatory.
USB Map 24. Ref A 6.
Sydney Observatory
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Sydney Observatory began in the 1840s as a simple time-ball tower built near the signal station on Observatory Hill, Millers Point. Every day at exactly 1.00 pm, the time ball on top of the tower would drop to signal the correct time to the city and harbour below. At the same time a cannon on Fort Denison was fired. The tower was soon expanded into a full observatory. Designed by Alexander Dawson, the building consisted of a domed chamber to house the equatorial telescope, a room with long, narrow windows for the transit telescope a computing room or office, and a residence for the astronomer. In 1877, a western wing was added to provide office and library space and a second domed chamber for telescopes.
After federation in 1901, meteorological observations became a Commonwealth government responsibility, but astronomy remained with the states. Sydney Observatory continued working on the Astrographic catalogue, keeping time, making observations and providing information to the public. Everyday, for example, the Observatory supplied Sydney newspapers with the rising and setting times of the sun, moon and planets. By the mid 1970's the increasing problems of air pollution and city light made work at the observatory more and more difficult. In 1982, Sydney Observatory was converted into a museum of astronomy and related fields. Open Mon - Fri 10.00am - 4.00pm; weekends & public holidays. 10.00am - 5.00pm.
Pennant Hills Observatory
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A trig station was established in 1889 on the corner of Pennant Hills and Beecroft Roads, on land that had been set aside for an observatory. Called the Red Hill Observatory, it was operated by James Short. An astrographic telescope, consisting of a circular building with rotating dome and 33cm telescope, was transferred to Pennant Hills from the Sydney Observatory in 1899. The observations made were of great importance at the time. The Observatory was closed in 1930 due to the retirement of James Short and the depression. The telescope was returned to the main observatory at that time.
A monument and plaque at Observatory Park on Pennant Hills Road, Pennant Hills, marks the site of the Red Hill Observatory. It is the highest point of the suburb of Pennant Hills.
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William Dawes' Observatory
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Site of William Dawes' observatory, Dawes Point
When the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Lord Sydney, announced in August 1786 that a colony was to be established there, the son of a Clerk of Works in the Ordnance Office, Portsmouth, William Dawes, was one of the first to sign on. Having built quite a reputation as a navigator, he was interviewed by Rev Dr Maskeleyne, the Astronomer Royal, who offered him a task not dissimilar to the one he had entrusted to Lieutenant James Cook on his first expedition to the Pacific: to observe a comet that had last been seen in 1661 and which, according to his calculations, would appear again towards the end of 1788 but only in the southern hemisphere.
Dr. Maskelyne obtained astronomical instruments on loan from the Board of Longitude so that this particular naval marine could make observations useful for English shipping in the Pacific. Equipped to set up the first observatory ever in the southern hemisphere, his Dawes' task during the journey south with the First Fleet was to take charge of the flagship's chronometer and chart the course of the whole fleet into the unknown waters of the Southern and Pacific Oceans.
Upon arrival after the site of the settlement had been established, Dawes was given permission to set up his observatory on the rocky point to the west of Sydney Cove, which was named in honour of Dr Maskeleyne. Its name was later changed to Dawes Point in memory of the young ensign whe set up Australia's and the southern hemisphere's first astronomy.
Dawes used the observatory for four years, but when he returned to England in 1791 he took his borrowed instruments back with him and the structures were abandoned. The observatory apparently collapsed, but by the end of the year Collins reported that the wooden building was being used as a guardroom, a platform for a flagstaff and a cannon having been erected beyond it. The only visual evidence we have of the appearance of the observatory is Dawes' own rough sketch in a letter.
On his return to Britain, he spent some time working with William Wilberforce and became very active in the cause of the abolition of slavery. Within a year he had accepted a post in Sierra Leone where a colony was being established for former slaves to live in peace and freedom. His years in Sierra Leone were some of the happiest of his life. During his time there he married and had three children, and was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant. He became a counsellor to the Governor and played a major role in Freetown's design and construction, a mirror of his role in Sydney. He held the post of Governor three times and was one of the commissioners of enquiry who oversaw the transition of power when Sierra Leone became a Crown colony in 1808.
Lands Department Observatory
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The observatory dome of the Lands department building, Sydney
The central copper dome of the Lands Department building in Bridge Street, Sydney, often called The Onion because of its shape, was designed to take a telescope, though one was never installed. The domed roof can be revolved to aid celestial tracking. The telescope guide and window for the telescope lens can be seen when the building is viewed from cnr of Bridge and Young Streets.
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