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Sydney Observatory
The Sydney Observatory is a heritage-listed meteorological station, astronomical observatory, function venue, science museum, and education facility located on Observatory Hill at Upper Fort Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers Point in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by William Weaver (plans) and Alexander Dawson (supervision) and built from 1857 to 1859 by Charles Bingemann & Ebenezer Dewar. It is also known as The Sydney Observatory; Observatory; Fort Phillip; Windmill Hill; and Flagstaff Hill. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 22 December 2000. The site was formerly a defence fort, semaphore station, time ball station, meteorological station, observatory and windmills. The site evolved from a fort built on 'Windmill Hill' in the early 19th century to an observatory within the following 100 years. It is now a working museum where evening visitors can observe the stars and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Millers Point, New South Wales
Millers Point is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the north-western edge of the Sydney central business district, adjacent to The Rocks and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Millers Point lies on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, beside Darling Harbour. The Barangaroo development is taking place on 22 hectares of land on the western side of the suburb. Millers Point historically includes what are now known as the suburbs of Dawes Point and Barangaroo and the renaming of those parts of Millers Point is controversial (https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/millers_point). The original headland of Millers Point is now known as Barangaroo Reserve, though the point itself has been returned to its original name. History On 30 June 1814 Thomas Miller, a Sergeant in the 73rd Regiment of Foot, received a grant of land from the governor. A small mill that was owned by an ex-convict, Jack Leighton was located ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Refractor Telescope
A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope design was originally used in spyglasses and astronomy, astronomical telescopes but is also used for long-focus lens, long-focus camera lenses. Although large refracting telescopes were very popular in the second half of the 19th century, for most research purposes, the refracting telescope has been superseded by the reflecting telescope, which allows larger apertures. A refractor's magnification is calculated by dividing the focal length of the objective lens by that of the eyepiece. Refracting telescopes typically have a lens at the front, then a optical train, long tube, then an eyepiece or instrumentation at the rear, where the telescope view comes to focus. Originally, telescopes had an objective of one element, but a century later, tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Dawes (British Marines Officer)
William Nicolas Dawes (1762–1836) was an officer of the British Marines, an astronomer, engineer, botanist, surveyor, explorer, abolitionist, and colonial administrator. He traveled to New South Wales with the First Fleet on board . Early life William Dawes was born at Portsmouth, Hampshire, in early 1762, the eldest child of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Sinnatt) Dawes. He was christened there on 17 March 1762. His father was a clerk of works in the Ordnance Office at Portsmouth. He joined the marines as a Second Lieutenant on 2 September 1779. He was wounded in action against the French Navy under the Comte de Grasse at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781. Dawes volunteered for service with the New South Wales Marine Corps, which accompanied the First Fleet. Because he was known as a competent astronomer, he was asked to establish an observatory and make astronomical observations on the voyage and in New South Wales. New South Wales From March 1788 Dawes was employed in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Observatory At Night
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean in the east to the Blue Mountains (New South Wales), Blue Mountains in the west, and about 80 km (50 mi) from Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park and the Hawkesbury River in the north and north-west, to the Royal National Park and Macarthur, New South Wales, Macarthur in the south and south-west. Greater Sydney consists of 658 suburbs, spread across 33 local government areas. Residents of the city are colloquially known as "Sydneysiders". The estimated population in June 2024 was 5,557,233, which is about 66% of the state's population. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2017. The city's nicknames include the Emerald City and the Harbour City. There is ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Bigge
John Thomas Bigge (8 March 1780 – 22 December 1843) was an English judge and royal commissioner. He is mostly known for his inquiry into the British colony of New South Wales published in the early 1820s. His reports favoured a return to the harsh treatment of convicts and the utilisation of them as cheap agricultural labour for wealthy sheep-farming colonists. Bigge's reports also resulted in the resignation of Governor Lachlan Macquarie whose policies promoted the advancement of ex-convicts back into society. Early life Bigge was born at Benton House, Northumberland, England, the son of Thomas Charles Bigge, High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1780. He was educated at Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, Newcastle Grammar School and Westminster School (1795), and in 1797 entered Christ Church, Oxford (B.A., 1801; M.A., 1804). Bigge was called to the Bar in 1806 and was appointed Chief Justice of Trinidad, Chief Judge of Trinidad in 1814, a post he held for the next four years. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Port Jackson
Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta Rivers. The harbour is an inlet of the Tasman Sea (part of the South Pacific Ocean). It is the location of significant landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The location of the first European settlement and colony on the Australian mainland, Port Jackson has continued to play a key role in the history and development of Sydney. Port Jackson, in the early days of the colony, was also used as a shorthand for Sydney and its environs. Thus, many botanists, see, e.g., Robert Brown's '' Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'', described their specimens as having been collected at Port Jackson. Many recreational events are based on or around the harbour itself, particularly Sydney New Year's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sydney Heads
The Sydney Heads (also simply known as the Heads) are a series of headlands that form the wide entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north; South Head and Dunbar Head are to the south; and Middle Head, Georges Head, and Chowder Head are to the west and within the harbour. The Heads are contained within the Sydney Harbour National Park. Some features located on the heads are heritage-listed on the Australian National Heritage List; such as the Hornby Lighthouse, located on South Head, Australia's third-oldest lighthouse; Macquarie Lighthouse, Australia's first lighthouse, located to the south on Dunbar Head; and the former Quarantine Station on North Head. North Head North Head is a headland south-east of the suburb of Manly. It is part of Sydney Harbour National Park. The headland is a promontory of sandstone and is in area. Sydney Quarantine station The heritage-listed former Quarantine Stati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semaphore Line
An optical telegraph is a line of stations, typically towers, for the purpose of conveying textual information by means of visual signals (a form of optical communication). There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and conveys information according to the direction the indicators point, and the shutter telegraph which uses panels that can be rotated to block or pass the light from the sky behind to convey information. The most widely used system was the Chappe telegraph, which was invented in France in 1792 by Claude Chappe. It was popular in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries. Chappe used the term ''télégraphe'' to describe the mechanism he had invented – that is the origin of the English word "telegraph". Lines of relay towers with a semaphore rig at the top were built within line of sight of each other, at separations of . Operators at each tower would watch the neighboring tower through a telescope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Convictism In Australia
Between 1788 and 1868 the British penal system Penal transportation, transported about 162,000 convicts from Great Britain and Ireland to various list of Australian penal colonies, penal colonies in Australia. The British Government began transporting convicts overseas to Thirteen Colonies, American colonies in the early 18th century. After trans-Atlantic transportation ended with the start of the American Revolution, authorities sought an alternative destination to relieve further overcrowding of British prisons and prison ship, hulks. Earlier in 1770, James Cook had charted and claimed possession of the east coast of Australia for United Kingdom, Britain. Seeking to pre-empt the French colonial empire from expanding into the region, Britain chose Australia as the site of a penal colony, and in 1787, the First Fleet of eleven convict ships set sail for Botany Bay, arriving on 20 January 1788 to found Sydney, New South Wales, the first European settlement on the continent. Oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Hunter (Royal Navy Officer)
Vice Admiral of the Red, Vice Admiral John Hunter (29 August 1737 – 13 March 1821) was an officer of the Royal Navy, who succeeded Arthur Phillip as the second Governor of New South Wales, serving from 1795 to 1800.J. J. Auchmuty,Hunter, John (1737–1821), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 1, Melbourne University Press, MUP, 1966, pp 566–572. Retrieved 12 August 2009 Both a sailor and a scholar, he explored the Parramatta River as early as 1788, and was the first to surmise that Tasmania might be an island. As governor, he tried to combat serious abuses by the military in the face of powerful local interests led by John Macarthur (wool pioneer), John MacArthur. Hunter's name is commemorated in historic locations such as Hunter Valley and Hunter Street, Sydney. Family and early life John Hunter was born in Leith, Scotland, the son of William Hunter, a captain in the merchant service, and Helen, ''née'' Drummond, daughter of J. Drummond and niece of George Drumm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Philip, Sydney
Fort Phillip was a citadel style fort constructed as part of the first defensive works of the penal settlement of Sydney, located on Observatory Hill in the Sydney suburb of , New South Wales, Australia. The fort has been demolished and the local government heritage-listed site repurposed as the Sydney Observatory. History Governor John Hunter ordered a fort to be built and Fort Phillip was commissioned in 1804 by the third New South Wales Governor (in office 1800–1806), Philip Gidley King, partly as a response to external threats such as a possible French attack in 1803 and partly due to the internal unrest from rebellious convicts reflected in Australia's only major convict rebellion at Castle Hill in March 1804. This was dubbed the Battle of Vinegar Hill as most of the convict rebels were Irish. Windmill Hill (later Observatory Hill) was chosen as a fort location as it was the highest point above the colony, affording commanding views of the Harbour approaches from east ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
