Corporate Body

Sydney Observatory

Colony and State of New South Wales

From
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Functions
Astronomy or Space Science and Observatory
Website
http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/
Location
Watson Road, Observatory Hill, The Rocks, Sydney, New South Wales

Summary

Sydney Observatory began as a time-ball tower in the mid-nineteenth century. It was soon expanded and became a full observatory. The Observatory was converted in 1982 and now operates as a museum, focusing on astronomy and its history. Sydney Observatory, along with the Powerhouse Museum, is managed by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.

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Related People

Published resources

Books

  • Kerr, James Semple, Sydney Observatory: a Conservation Plan for the Site and its Structures (Sydney: Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, 2002), 84 pp. Details
  • Lomb, N., and Pickett, C., Observer & observed: a pictorial history of Sydney Observatory and Observatory Hill (Haymarket, N.S.W.: Powerhouse Publishing, 2001), 96 pp. Details
  • Nangle, James, The Sydney Observatory: its history and work (Sydney: Sydney Technical College, 1930), 22 pp. Details
  • Russell, H. C., The Sydney Observatory: history and progress (Sydney: Thomas Richards, Govt. Printer, 1882). Details
  • Russell, Roslyn, Two People and a Place: the Family Who Lived in Sydney Observatory (Sydney: Roslyn Russell Museum Services, 2008), 219 pp. Details
  • Wood, H. W., Sydney Observatory, 1858 to 1958 (Sydney: 1958). Details
  • Wood, Harley, Sydney Observatory 1958 to 1981 (Sydney: Government Printer, 1982), 14 pp. Details

Journal Articles

  • Bhathal, Ragbir, '150 Years of Sydney Observatory', Astronomy & Geophysics, 50 (3) (2009), 26-30. Details
  • Nightingale, H. C., 'Centenary of Sydney Observatory', The Australian Surveyor (1958), 95-101. Details
  • Orchiston, W., 'From Research to Recreation: the Rise and Fall of Sydney Observatory', Vistas in Astronomy, 32 (1988), 49-63. Details
  • Orchiston, Wayne, 'Sydney Observatory - Past, Present and Future', British Astronomical Association, New South Wales Branch Bulletin, 609 (Suppl (1982). Details
  • Orchiston, Wayne, 'Illuminating Incidents in Antipodean Astronomy: Phillip Parker King and the Founding of Sydney Observatory', Vistas in Astronomy, 32 (1988), 285-301. Details
  • Orchiston, Wayne, 'Mission Impossible: William Scott and the First Sydney Observatory Directorship', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 1 (1) (1998), 21-43. Details
  • Tasker, Ian, 'Power, politics and personalities in Australian astronomy: William Ernest Cooke and the triangulation of the Pacific by wireless signals', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 22 (1) (2019), 113-21. http://www.narit.or.th/en/files/2019JAHHvol22/2019JAHH...22..113T.pdf. Details
  • Wood, H., 'Sydney Observatory 1858-1983', Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 5 (2) (1983), 273-281. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1323358000017094. Details
  • Wood, H. W., 'Sydney Observatory. its History and Work', Australian Journal of Science, 1 (1939), 189-193. Details

Resources

Reviews

  • Russell, Rosslyn, Two people and a place: the family who lived in Sydney Observatory (2008)
    Gillespie, Richard, Historical Records of Australian Science, 19 (2), (2008), 223-5, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR08008. Details

Theses

  • Stevenson, T., 'Measuring the stars and observing the less visible: Australia's participation in the Astrographic Catalogue and Carte du Ciel', Thesis, University of Sydney, 2015, 381 pp. Details

See also

Ailie Smith

Created: 26 February 2002, Last modified: 15 February 2024

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