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Ward Observatory
The Ward Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Whanganui, New Zealand. Built in 1901 and administered by the Wanganui Astronomical Society, it is named after Joseph Ward (1862–1927), the society's first president and longtime director of the observatory. It houses a telescope, the largest unmodified refractor telescope in use in New Zealand. The Observatory was designed by A. Atkins to Joseph Ward's specifications, cost £290 to build, and was formally opened by Premier Richard Seddon on 25 May 1903. The telescope had been bought second-hand in England for £450, and with its mounting weighed three tons. In the Astronomical Society's heyday before and during World War I, Joseph Ward was Honorary Director of the Observatory and Charles Whitmore Babbage, grandson of Charles Babbage the President, Secretary, and Treasurer. At this time Ward and his assistant Thomas Allison catalogued over 200 double stars, 88 of which are still recognised as “Ward doubles”. Ward als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whanganui, New Zealand (52)
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is the 19th most-populous urban area in New Zealand and the second-most-populous in Manawatū-Whanganui, with a population of as of . Whanganui is the ancestral home of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi and other Whanganui Māori tribes. The New Zealand Company began to settle the area in 1840, establishing its second settlement after Wellington. In the early years most European settlers came via Wellington. Whanganui greatly expanded in the 1870s, and freezing works, woollen mills, phosphate works and wool stores were established in the town. Today, much of Whanganui's economy relates directly to the fertile and prosperous farming hinterland. Like several New Zealand urban areas, it was officially designated a city until an administrativ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whanganui
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is the 19th most-populous urban area in New Zealand and the second-most-populous in Manawatū-Whanganui, with a population of as of . Whanganui is the ancestral home of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi and other Whanganui Māori tribes. The New Zealand Company began to settle the area in 1840, establishing its second settlement after Wellington. In the early years most European settlers came via Wellington. Whanganui greatly expanded in the 1870s, and freezing works, woollen mills, phosphate works and wool stores were established in the town. Today, much of Whanganui's economy relates directly to the fertile and prosperous farming hinterland. Like several New Zealand urban areas, it was officially designated a city until an administrativ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Ward (astronomer)
Joseph Thomas Ward (25 January 1862 – 4 January 1927) was a New Zealand astronomer and telescope maker. Born in England, he migrated to New Zealand circa 1880, and settled in Whanganui. Ward was a pioneer New Zealand telescope maker, instrumental in establishing both the Wanganui Astronomical Society, and the Wanganui Observatory. Early life Joseph Thomas Ward was born in Chelsea, London, England, on 25 January 1862, the son of Mary Sarah Clark and Francis Ward, a licensed victualler. He was educated for the Catholic priesthood but abandoned this idea and migrated to New Zealand, where he worked for several years as a shepherd and shearer in Marlborough, and as a saddler in Wellington. On 12 October 1894, he married Ada Evelyn Wright (at the residence of the bride’s father). The married couple moved to Whanganui, where Ward first opened a lending library, and later, a bookshop and stationery business, ‘Book Nook’. Wanganui Astronomical Society and Wanganui Observator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wanganui Chronicle
''The Whanganui Chronicle'' is New Zealand's oldest newspaper. Based in Whanganui, it celebrated 160 years of publishing in September 2016. It is the main daily paper for the Whanganui, Ruapehu and Rangitīkei regions, including the towns of Patea, Waverley, Whanganui, Bulls, Marton, Raetihi, Ohakune and National Park. History Local resident Henry Stokes first proposed the paper for Petre, as the town was then called, but initial publication was held back by lack of equipment. As no printing press was available, Stokes approached the technical master at Wanganui Collegiate School, Rev. Charles Nicholls, and together they constructed a maire wood and iron makeshift printing press, on which, with the help of the staff and pupils of the school, the first edition of the ''Wanganui Chronicle'' (as it was then spelled) was printed on 18 September 1856. The motto of the paper, printed at the top of the editorial column, was "''Verite Sans Peur''," French for "''Truth without Fear''. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Seddon
Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the List of prime ministers of New Zealand, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. In office for thirteen years, he is to date New Zealand's List of Prime Ministers of New Zealand by time in office, longest-serving head of government. Seddon was born in Eccleston, St Helens, Eccleston near St Helens, Merseyside, St Helens, Lancashire, in England. He arrived in New Zealand in 1866 to join an uncle in the West Coast Gold Rush, West Coast goldfields. His prominence in local politics gained him a seat in the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives in 1879. Seddon became a key member of the New Zealand Liberal Party, Liberal Party under the leadership of John Ballance, but differed from him greatly due to his Historic conservatism in New Zealand, conservativism clashing with Ballance's progressivism. Wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Whitmore Babbage
Benjamin Herschel Babbage (6 August 1815 – 22 October 1878) was an English engineer, scientist, explorer and politician, best known for his work in the colony of South Australia He invariably signed his name "B. Herschel Babbage" and was frequently referred to as "Herschel Babbage". He was the son of English mathematician and inventor, Charles Babbage. Early life and family Babbage was born in London, the eldest son of Charles Babbage, the renowned Cambridge mathematician who originated the concept of a programmable computer, and Georgina Whitmore. His uncle on his mother's side was William Wolryche-Whitmore, an MP in the House of Commons who lobbied for the formation of South Australia and introduced the South Australia Foundation Act into the British Parliament. At the age of 18, Babbage became a pupil of the engineer and architect William Chadwell Mylne, with whom he worked on waterworks projects. In the 1840s, he also worked with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the son of his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered by some to be " father of the computer". Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer, the Difference Engine, that eventually led to more complex electronic designs, though all the essential ideas of modern computers are to be found in Babbage's Analytical Engine, programmed using a principle openly borrowed from the Jacquard loom. Babbage had a broad range of interests in addition to his work on computers covered in his book ''Economy of Manufactures and Machinery''. His varied work in other fields has led him to be described as "pre-eminent" among the many polymaths of his century. Babbage, who died before the complete successful engineering of many of his designs, including his Difference Engine and Analytical Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Register (Adelaide)
''The Register'', originally the ''South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register'', and later ''South Australian Register,'' was South Australia's first newspaper. It was first published in London in June 1836, moved to Adelaide in 1837, and folded into '' The Advertiser'' almost a century later in February 1931. The newspaper was the sole primary source for almost all information about the settlement and early history of South Australia. It documented shipping schedules, legal history and court records at a time when official records were not kept. According to the National Library of Australia, its pages contain "one hundred years of births, deaths, marriages, crime, building history, the establishment of towns and businesses, political and social comment". All issues are freely available online, via Trove. History ''The Register'' was conceived by Robert Thomas, a law stationer, who had purchased for his family of land in the proposed South Australian province after be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ward Doubles
Ward doubles are 88 binary stars recognized by the Washington Double Star Catalog (as NZO objects) that were identified by Joseph Ward Sir Joseph George Ward, 1st Baronet, (26 April 1856 – 8 July 1930) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 17th prime minister of New Zealand from 1906 to 1912 and from 1928 to 1930. He was a dominant figure in the Liberal and Unit ... and his assistant Thomas Allison. Ward and Allison identified over 200 double stars during a survey of the southern sky at Ward Observatory over six years beginning in 1904. References Binary stars {{astronomy-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heritage New Zealand
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocates for the protection of ancestral sites and heritage buildings in New Zealand. It was set up through the Historic Places Act 1954 with a mission to "...promote the identification, protection, preservation and conservation of the historical and cultural heritage of New Zealand" and is an autonomous Crown entity. Its current enabling legislation is the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014. History Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe gifted the site where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed to the nation in 1932. The subsequent administration through the Waitangi Trust is sometimes seen as the beginning of formal heritage protection in New Zealand. Public discussion about heritage protection occurred in 1940 in conjunction with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cooks Gardens
Cooks Gardens is a multi-purpose stadium in Wanganui, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches, athletics and cycling. The main stadium, known as Westpac Stadium, is able to hold 20,700 people with 3,500 covered seats. History Cooks Gardens use as a sporting facility commenced in 1896. Since then Cooks Gardens has been the venue of a number of the world's historic sporting occasions. One of these occasions was on 27 January 1962 when tens of thousands of spectators crammed into Cooks Gardens to witness athlete Peter Snell break the world record for the mile. Since then, the four minute mile has been broken 63 times at Cooks Gardens by 41 athletes from various countries around the world. In 1996 a multimillion-dollar re-development of Cooks Gardens took place. This included an all-weather synthetic 400m athletic track, the first wooden cycling velodrome in New Zealand, and a new grandstand. Redevelopment of Cooks Gardens was completed in 2004 with the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomical Observatories In New Zealand
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, and comets. Relevant phenomena include supernova explosions, gamma ray bursts, quasars, blazars, pulsars, and cosmic microwave background radiation. More generally, astronomy studies everything that originates beyond Earth's atmosphere. Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that studies the universe as a whole. Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history made methodical observations of the night sky. These include the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Chinese, Maya, and many ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas. In the past, astronomy included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy, and the making of calendars. Nowadays, professional a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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