P006814 revised AU-VU:EOAS Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation

All key entry types: Awards; Concepts; Corporate Bodies (Organisations); Cultural Artefacts; People; etc

These key entries are listed separately below with other indexes and lists.

 English AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules Corporate Body created 2020-02-25 human Helen Cohn updated 2026-03-05 human https://www.eoas.info/biogs/P006814b.htm corporateBody Melbourne Observatory Colony and State of Victoria AACR2 1863 1944 Start Place South Yarra, Victoria, Australia Observatory Astronomy or Space Science Meteorology The Melbourne Observatory was established in 1863 with the merger of the Williamstown and Flagstaff Observatories in Kings Domain, South Yarra, close to the centre of Melbourne, under the Directorship of R. L. J. Ellery. Georg Neumayer continued his magnetic and meteorological observations, begun at Flagstaff, at the new site until his return to Germany in 1864. With the Acquisition in 1868 of a 48-inch reflector, called the Great Melbourne Telescope, the Observatory became the best equipped of the Australian colonial observatories. The work of the Observatory included observations for the Astrographic Catalogue, the provision of meteorological information, and maintenance of the time signal. Meteorological work was subsumed by the newly-established Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology in 1908, and the time service was transferred to the Commonwealth Observatory at Mount Stromlo, A.C.T., in 1944. By the 1890s, with increasing electrification and street lighting in central Melbourne, astronomical research became progressively more difficult. The Observatory closed in 1944. Williamstown Observatory, Colony of Victoria (1853 - 1863) Flagstaff Observatory for Geophysics, Magnetism and Nautical Sciences, Colony of Victoria (1858 - 1863) Baldwin, Joseph Mason (1878 - 1945)

Director of the Observatory and Victorian Government Astronomer 1920 - 1943

 Lyle, Thomas Ranken (1860 - 1944)

Chairman, Board of Visitors 1903 - 1944

 Ellery, Robert Lewis John (1827 - 1908)

Director of the Observatory and Victorian Government Astronomer 1863 - 1895

 Baracchi, Pietro Paolo Giovanni Ernesto (1851 - 1926)

Director of the Observatory and Victorian Government Astronomer 1900 - 1915 (Acting 1895 - 1900)

 Bernacchi, Louis Charles (1876 - 1942)

Assistant 1895 - 1897

 Lewis, Lillian Emblad (1878 - )

Astrographic measurer and computer 1898 - 1903

 Peel, Charlotte Emily Fforde (1876 - 1974)

Assistant astronomical computer 1898 - 1918

 Quayle, Edwin Thomas (1862 - 1955)

Quayle worked at the Observatory 1890 - 1908

 White, Edward John (1831 - 1913)

Chief assistant 1860 - 1892; Acting Government Astronomer 1875 - 1876

 'Melbourne Observatory', in Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology Melbourne Observatory Swinburne University of Technology, Centre for Transformative Innovation Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Conference Paper: The Objects of Science and Technology - Working with "Things" Hallett, Martin The Objects of Science and Technology - Working with "Things" Canberra Australian Science Archives Project 1995 Recovering Science: Strategies and Models for the Past, Present and Future: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the University of Melbourne, October 1992 Tim Sherratt, Lisa Jooste and Rosanne Clayton 87-93 Journal Article: Influences of German science and scientists on Melbourne Observatory Clark, Barry A. J. Influences of German science and scientists on Melbourne Observatory 2015 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 127 1 43-58 Journal Article: The Melbourne Observatory Dallmeyer Photoheliograph and the 1874 Transit of Venus Clark, B.A.J.; and Orchiston, Wayne The Melbourne Observatory Dallmeyer Photoheliograph and the 1874 Transit of Venus 2004 Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 7 1 44-49 Journal Article: Georg Neumayer and Melbourne Observatory: an Institutional Legacy Gillespie, Richard Georg Neumayer and Melbourne Observatory: an Institutional Legacy 2011 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 123 19-26 Book: The Great Melbourne Telescope Gillespie, Richard The Great Melbourne Telescope Melbourne Museum Victoria Publishing 2011 Thesis: Some Foundations of Science in Victoria in the Decade After Separation Cohn, Helen M. Some Foundations of Science in Victoria in the Decade After Separation Melbourne University of Melbourne 1990 Journal Article: The Great Melbourne Telescope and Other 19th Century Reflectors Gascoigne, S. C. B. The Great Melbourne Telescope and Other 19th Century Reflectors 1995 Historical Records of Australian Science 10 3 223-245 Journal Article: The Great Melbourne Telescope and Other 19th Century Reflectors Gascoigne, S. C. B. The Great Melbourne Telescope and Other 19th Century Reflectors 1996 Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 37 101-128 Journal Article: Robert LJ. Ellery, His Life and Times Gascoigne, S. C. B. Robert LJ. Ellery, His Life and Times 1992 Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia 10 170-176 Book Section: Ellery, Robert Lewis John (1827-1908), astronomer and public servant Gascoigne, S. C. B. Ellery, Robert Lewis John (1827-1908), astronomer and public servant Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1972 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J Douglas Pike 135-137 Journal Article: The Victorian time signal service Moorhead, Simon The Victorian time signal service 2014 Australian journal of telecommunications and the digital economy 2 4 64.1-64.10 Journal Article: The Last Great Speculum: the 48-inch Great Melbourne Telescope Perdrix, John The Last Great Speculum: the 48-inch Great Melbourne Telescope 1992 Australian Journal of Astronomy 4 3 149-163 Journal Article: The Large Southern Telescope: Cape or Melbourne? Warner, B. The Large Southern Telescope: Cape or Melbourne? 1982 Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 23 505-514 Journal Article: Our Observatory: the story of its establishment Ross, C. Stuart Our Observatory: the story of its establishment 1918 Victorian historical magazine 6 4 134-44 Thesis: Astronomical observations of Melbourne Observatory Andropoulos, Jenny Ioanna Astronomical observations of Melbourne Observatory James Cook University 2014 Journal Article: Melbourne Observatory and the genesis of astrophysics in Australia Andropoulos, J.; Clark, B.; and Orchiston, W. Melbourne Observatory and the genesis of astrophysics in Australia 2006 AAO newsletter 190 18-20 Journal Article: The Melbourne Observatory Dallmeyer photoheliograph and the 1874 transit of Venus Clark, B. A. J.; and Orchiston, W. The Melbourne Observatory Dallmeyer photoheliograph and the 1874 transit of Venus 2004 Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 7 44-9 Journal Article: Preliminary spectroscopic survey of southern stars, made at Melbourne Observatory with a MacLean direct-vision spectroscope on the 8-inch equatorial Ellery, R. Preliminary spectroscopic survey of southern stars, made at Melbourne Observatory with a MacLean direct-vision spectroscope on the 8-inch equatorial 1889 Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 49 439-45 Journal Article: Spectra of southern stars observed at the Melbourne Observatory with the MacLean direct-vision spectroscope attached to the southern equatorial Baracchi, P. Spectra of southern stars observed at the Melbourne Observatory with the MacLean direct-vision spectroscope attached to the southern equatorial 1889 Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 50 66-71 Journal Article: Melbourne Observatory's astrographic women: star measurers and computers Stevenson, Toner Melbourne Observatory's astrographic women: star measurers and computers 2023 Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 26 2 325-38 Thesis: Measuring the stars and observing the less visible: Australia's participation in the Astrographic Catalogue and Carte du Ciel Stevenson, T. Measuring the stars and observing the less visible: Australia's participation in the Astrographic Catalogue and Carte du Ciel University of Sydney 2015 Journal Article: The Melbourne Observatory. Presidential Address Perdrix, J. L. The Melbourne Observatory. Presidential Address 1961 The Journal of the Astronomical Society of Victoria 181-186 Book Section: Baracchi, Pietro Paolo Giovanni Ernesto (1851-1926), astronomer Perdrix, J. L. Baracchi, Pietro Paolo Giovanni Ernesto (1851-1926), astronomer Melbourne Melbourne University Press 1979 Australian dictionary of biography, volume 7: 1891 - 1939 A-Ch Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle 166-167 Book Section: Robert Lewis John Ellery, 1827-1908 Holland, Julian Robert Lewis John Ellery, 1827-1908 Oxford Oxford University Press 2004 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Book Section: The development of astronomy and the foundation of astrophysics in Australia Orchiston, Wayne; Clark, Barry A. J.; Frew, David; and Andropoulos, Jenny The development of astronomy and the foundation of astrophysics in Australia Cham, Switzerland Springer 2017 The emergence of astrophysics in Asia: opening a new window on the Universe Nakamura, T.; and Orchiston, W. 395-452 Journal Article: Comet observations made in 1914 and 1915 at the Melbourne Observatory Baldwin, J. Comet observations made in 1914 and 1915 at the Melbourne Observatory 1917 Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 77 474-7