Parramatta Observatory (1822 - 1848)

Summary

The Parramatta Observatory was a ptivate observatory built in 1822 by the Governor of New South Wales, Thomas Brisbane. (It dod not become a Colonial agency until after Brisbane returned to the United Kingdom.) An experienced astronomical observer, Brisbane had previously built an observatory at his home in Scotland. He both purchased the necessary instruments for Parramatta and paid the salaries of the two staff, Carl Rümker and James Dunlop. The main reason for building the Observatory was to prepare a catalog of bright stars in the southern hemisphere, necessary for navigational and surveying purposes. Approximately 40,000 observations were made of over 7,000 stars; the catalog was published in 1835 with the services of William Richardson of the Greenwich Observatory, London. Brisbane also instituted regular meteorological observations. Detection of comet Encke in June 1822 brought Parramatta international recognition, confirming as it did Newton's theory of gravitation as it applied to comets. This was the first of a number of comets Dunlop and Rümker observed. Dunlop took charge of Parramatta in 1823, Rümker having left after a dispute with Brisbane. The Observatory, together with its library and instruments, was acquired by the New South Wales Government after Brisbane's departure. Rümker was appointed Government Astronomer in 1827, but travelled to the United Kingdom in 1830 to acquire new instruments and did not return. Dunlop was Superintendent of the Observatory from 1831 to 1847. The Observatory closed in 1848.

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Richardson, William, A catalogue of 7385 stars: chiefly in the southern hemisphere, prepared from observations made in the years 1822, 1823, 1824, 1825 and 1826, at the observatory at Paramatta, New South Wales, founded by Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, the computations made, and the catalogue constructed by William Richardson (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1835), 311 pp. Details
• Rümker, Christian Carl Ludwig, Preliminary catalogue of fixed stars intended for a prospectus of a catalogue of the stars of the Southern Hemisphere included within the Tropic of Capricorn now reducing from the observations made in the observatory at Paramatta [sic] (Perthes and Besser: Hamburg, 1832), 20 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Bergman, George F. J., 'Christian Carl Ludwig Rumker (1788-1862). Australia's first Government Astronomer', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 46 (5) (1960), 247-288. Details
• Bhathal, Ragbir, 'Some Scientific Aspects of Parramatta Observatory', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 145 (2012), 111-27. Details
• Goodin, Vernon W. E., 'Parramatta Observatory: the story of an absurdity', Journal and proceedings. Royal Australian Historical Society, xxxiii (1947), 173-187. Details
• Lomb, Nick, 'The Instruments from Parramatta Observatory', Historical Records of Australian Science, 15 (2) (2004), 211-222. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR04004. Details
• Richmond, J. T. C., 'The historic observatory at Parramatta', Australian surveyor, 19 (3) (1962), 189-91, https://doi.org/10.1080/00050326.1962.10439708. Details
• Rümker, Charles, 'Astronomical observations made at the Observatory Paramatta [sic] in New South Wales', Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London, 119 (3) (1829), 1-152, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1829.0002. Details
• Saunders, Shirley D., 'Sir Thomas Brisbane's Legacy to Colonial Science: Colonial Astronomy at the Parramatta Observatory, 1822-1848', Historical Records of Australian Science, 15 (2) (2004), 177-209. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR04009. Details

See also

• Bergman, George F. J., 'Rümker, Christian Carl Ludwig (1788-1862), astronomer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 2: 1788 - 1850 I-Z, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1967), pp. 403-404. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020359b.htm. Details
• Brisbane, T., 'Observations on the temperature of the Earth at Paramatta, New South Wales', Edinburgh philosophical journal, 10 (1824), 219-22. Details
• Cozens, Glen, Walsh, Andrew and Orchiston, Wayne, 'James Dunlop's Historical Catalogue of the Southern Nebulae and Clusters', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 13 (1) (2010), 59-73. Details
• Dunlop, J., 'A catalogue of nebulae and clusters of stars in the southern hemisphere', Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society, 118 (1828), 113-51. Details
• Dunlop, J., 'Approximate places of double stars, in the southern hemisphere, observed at Paramatta [sic] in New South Wales', Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of London, 3 (1829), 257-75. Details