Biographical entry Lenehan, Henry Alfred (1843 - 1908)

Summary

Henry Alfred Lenehan initially worked as a clerk with Australian Joint Stock Bank where he was posted to Ipswich and Rockhampton in Queensland. He then went on to work as a draftsman in the Railway Department (Queensland?). His appointment as an assistant to the Government Astronomer of New South Wales followed shortly afterwards (1870). Lenehan remained in this post for over thirty years, filling in for the Government Astronomer on several occasions. Finally, on 1 January 1907, he was appointed Government Astronomer and quickly set about organising for thousands of observations and readings to be made. These included gravity readings taken by the Sydney Observatory, magnetic studies by the Red Hill Observatory and the observation of the total solar eclipse and Daniel's comet in 1908 at Flint Island. Henry Lenehan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society of London and was a long-term councilor and one-time president of the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Details

Events

1865 - c. 1870

Career position - Clerk at the Australian Joint Stock Bank in New South Wales and Queensland

1870 - 1906

Career position - Assistant to the Government Astronomer

1875

Career position - Acting Government Astronomer

1887

Career position - Acting Government Astronomer

1894

Award - Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, London (FRAS)

1901

Career position - Acting Government Astronomer

1903 - 1906

Career position - Acting Government Astronomer

1905 - 1906

Career position - President of the Royal Society of New South Wales

1 January 1907 -

Career position - Government Astronomer

Published resources

Book Sections

• Wood, Harley, 'Lenehan, Henry Alfred (1843-1908), Astronomer', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 10, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1986, pp. 73-74. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100069b.htm. Details

Online Resources

• National Library of Australia, 'Lenehan, Henry Alfred', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1467692. Details