Watheroo Magnetic Observatory (1919 - 1957)

Summary

The Watheroo Magnetic Observatory was established at the instigation of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C. (U.S.A.), as one of two southern hemisphere observatories required by the Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism for it's project to determine the shape of the Earth's magnetic and electrical fields. With the assistance of Professor Alexander Ross of the University of Western Australia Department of Physics, Institution physicists W. Wallis and Wilfred Parkinson selected a site near Watheroo, approximately 210 km north of Perth. Operations began on 1 January 1919. The installation of meteorological instruments resulted in monthly reports being provided to the Commonwealth Meteorologist in Perth. Wallis was the first Director, succeeded by Edward Kidson. Ross continued his association with the Observatory, which proved a valuable adjunct teaching facility. During WWII the Observatory provided assistance to the Royal Australian Air Force in relation to its long-range radio communications. In July 1947 the Carnegie Institution handed the Observatory to the Australian Government. Operations at the Observatory were managed by the Bureau of Mineral Resources and ceased in 1957. A number of the instruments were transferred to the Mundaring Geophysical Observatory which, when it closed in 2000, passed the instruments to the Mundaring and Hills Historical Society.

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Berkner, Lloyd V.; and Wells, H. W., Ionospheric research at Watheroo Observatory, Western Australia, June 1938 - June 1946 ( Washington, D.C.: Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1948), 446 pp. Details
• Fleming, J. A. [and others], Magnetic results from Watheroo Observatory, Western Australia 1919 - 1947, 3 vols (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1947-1951). Details
• Rooney, W. J.; and Gish, O. H., Earth-current results from Watheroo Observatory, Western Australia 1932 - 1942 (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1949), 600 pp. Details
• Watt, G. R.; and Torreson, O. W., Atmospheric-electric results from Watheroo observatory, Western Australia, 1924 - 1934 (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1948), 600 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Home, R. W., 'To Watheroo and back: the DTM in Australia, 1911 - 1947' in The Earth, the heavens and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Good, Gregory A., ed. (Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union, 1994), pp. 149-60. Details
• Parkinson, W. C., 'Some memories of Watheroo Magnetic Observatory' in The Earth, the heavens and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Good, Gregory A., ed. (Washington, D.C.: American Geophysical Union, 1994), pp. 161-4. Details

Journal Articles

• 'The Watheroo Magnetic Observatory, Melbourne [sic]', Nature, 186 (1960), 606. https://doi.org/10.1038/186606a0. Details
• Bush, Fiona, 'Watheroo Magnetic Observatory', Early days, 104 (2020), 27-35. Details
• Fleming, J. A.; and Wallis, W. F., 'The construction and equipment of the Watheroo Magnetic Observatory in Western Australia', Terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric electricity, 25 (1) (1920), 1-6. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1029/TE024i001p0001. Details
• Kidson, Edward, 'Records of earthquakes at Watheroo Magnetic Observatory', Terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric electricity, 25 (4) (1920), 174. https://doi.org/10.1029/TE025i004p00174. Details