The fire at Umina, NSW, on 1 January 2006. Photo by Terence Measham.
Sunshine or solar recorder used at Sydney Observatory; made by Rudolf Fuess, Berlin, Germany, 1895-1905; H7353.
What was Sydney's hottest day? Its wettest day? Its wildest storm? Find out the answer to these questions in this new exhibition at Sydney Observatory - opening to coincide with the Observatory's 150th anniversary celebrations.
A video will set the scene with people who lived through such events from 1938 to 2006 telling their fascinating personal stories of how they were affected. The exhibits will include hail-damaged items together with hands-on displays that will enable visitors to form clouds and to discover why rain falls from some varieties but not others. A specially designed audiovisual will clearly explain some of the very basics of global warming that are rarely covered elsewhere.
Sydney Observatory is normally associated with telescopes and observing the sky. However, when it began operating, the Observatory had a variety of additional tasks such as timekeeping, surveying and weather recording.
'Observing the weather' also illustrates the work of Sydney Observatory in beginning systematic weather observations in NSW. The first Government Astronomer, Reverend William Scott, set up a chain of country observing stations, including one at the 'Lunatic Asylum at Parramatta'.
From 1908, the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology took over the Observatory's weather role. Among the variety of items relevant to the activities of the Bureau in the exhibition is a mesmerising working example of a tipping bucket rain gauge, the type of rain gauge that the Bureau uses today.
