AGY-5168 | Board of Visitors [Sydney Observatory]

Full description

An Honorary Board of Visitors was appointed by the Minister for Education in January 1916 and held its first meeting on 16 August 1916. (1) The Board of Visitors had previously existed from 1858 but had been allowed to lapse after 1876 by Henry Russell, Government Astronomer from 1870 to February 1905. William Ernest Cooke became Government Astronomer from 1912 and was the first to report to the re-established Board of Visitors. (2)

The main functions of the Board were to receive and discuss the Annual Report of the Government Astronomer; to inspect the instruments from time to time; to advise the Government on matters of equipment; and to take a general oversight and interest in the institution. (3)

The Board of Visitors subsequently held several meetings, which included discussion of what use was to be made of the Melbourne measures of the Sydney Catalogue plates, eventually deciding to refer the matter to the Astronomer Royal, with all available computing energy transferred to the preparation of photographic measures for the press. (4)

Endnotes
(1) Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd ed. q.v. "Sydney Observatory".
(2) James Semple Kerr, Sydney Observatory: a conservation plan for the site and its structures. Haymarket, NSW, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, 1991, pp.24, 27, 31-33.
(3) Loc. cit. note 1.
(4) Parliamentary Papers 1917-18, Vol 2, Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1916, p.21