Observing 150 years
Nine years after the First Fleet landed in Port Jackson, in early 1797, the first windmill in New South Wales was completed on what became known as Windmill Hill. It was used to grind grain into flour and was one of the colony’s first steps towards self sufficiency. The mill tower was built of stone, and the machinery and grindstone were imported from England.
But the mill did not work for long. The canvas sails were stolen by convicts for possible use as sails on an escape vessel, and the machinery was damaged in a storm. Before it was ten years old, the mill was useless. This brief slice of history is still echoed in the name ‘Millers Point’, the harbour landing where grain was unloaded.
So then in 1803 Governor Hunter ordered a fort to be built on the site of Windmill Hill to defend the colony from rebellious convicts and possible French attack. France was England’s deadly enemy at this stage and the building of Fort Dennison was to repel the French war ships. This fear continued until June 18th, 1815 when Wellington defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo.
The windmill Hill fort, called Fort Phillip, was never completed and never fired a single shot in anger. In 1825, the eastern wall of the fort was converted to a signal station. From here flags sent messages to ships in the harbour and to the signal station on the South Head of the harbour. In 1840, the fort was partially demolished and a new signal station, designed by the colonial architect Mortimer Lewis, was built on the east wall in 1848. This is now the oldest building on the hill.
Plans for a Sydney Observatory began as a simple time ball tower, to be built near the signal station. Every day at exactly 1.00pm, 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 Dennison was fired. It was soon agreed to expand the tower into a full observatory. The time ball still drops every day at 1pm. Designed by Alexander Dawson, the observatory 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.
In the 1880s, under Henry Chamberlain Russell, Sydney Observatory gained international recognition. Russell took some of the first astronomical photographs in the world, and involved Sydney in one of the greatest international astronomy projects ever undertaken, The Astrographic Catalogue. The catalogue was the first completed atlas of the sky. The Sydney section alone took 80 years and 53 volumes to complete.
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. Every day, for example, the Observatory supplied Sydney newspapers with the rising and setting times of the sun, moon and planets. By the mid 1970s, the increasing problems of air pollution and the city’s artificial light made work at the Observatory more and more difficult.
In 1982, the decision was made to convert Sydney Observatory into a museum of astronomy and related fields. This June, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the observatory, a new flag signaling mast was erected as you can see from all over the lower CBD. However, you may not understand the messages the flags are signaling. Much of the weathered stonework has been replaced. The giant telescope has also been refurbished and is in pristine order.
Look up the website www.powerhousemuseum.com for a continuing program of interesting public events, then go visit this historic site. Detailed weather records are available for every day for over the past 150 years, and you can look up your date of birth and see what the weather was like while your mother was struggling to deliver you!
Rev The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes, A.C., M.L.C.
