i86 BATi^Anv, Journeys of Dr. Neumayer in Victoria. [vo^xxxVy 



vocation. In connncnioration of those days I called this point 

 ' Navigation Point.' " From these remarks it is quite evident 

 Sutherland is wrong, and that Neumayer arrived in Victoria 

 about 1853. Of course, there is the possibility that he 

 returned to Germany, and was sent out again b}^ his king. 

 Sutherland goes on to say that Neumayer applied for a site 

 in tlie Botanical Gardens reserve on which to erect a magnetic 

 observatory at the expense of the King of Bavaria, but was 

 refused ; however, later the application was granted for a site 

 on the Flagstaff Hill. The Geodetic Survey had at the time 

 a small observatory, under INIr. R. L. J. Ellcry (afterwards 

 Government Astronomer of Victoria), in the Royal Park. 

 These were after\\-ards combined, and Neumaj'er appointed 

 director, Mr. Ellery retaining the direction of the Nautical 

 Observatory at Williamstown, afterwards removed to the 

 Domain. The Flagstaff Observatory occupied a small building 

 in the western portion of what is now the Flagstaff Gardens, 

 West Melbourne, adjacent to King-street, where in the early 

 fifties the inhabitants of the growing cit\' were wont to gather on 

 Sundays, &c., to learn the latest news of the shipping in the bay, 

 whicli was transmitted tlience by signal flags. On Neu- 

 mayer's return to Germany lie was appointed nautical 

 astronomer at Hamburg, where he died in 1908, in his eight}-- 

 third year. 



The quarto volume from which I have taken the information 

 I purpose placing before you to-night is entitled " Results of 

 the Magnetic Survey of the Colony of Victoria, Executed 

 During the Years 1858-1864," by George Neumayer, Ph. D., 

 late Director of the l-'lagstaff Observatory, 3ilember of Various 

 Scientific Societies, and was published at Mannheim (Germany), 

 1869. From the preface it seems that Dr. Neumayer left 

 Victoria before the money necessary for publishing his results 

 had been voted, hence the publication in Germany. \ para- 

 graph is worth quoting. He says : — " A considerable portion 

 of the book is devoted to the narrative of my travels. In it 

 I give a short account of the manner in which the work was 

 carried through, including the mode of travelling and living, 

 as also a short description of the country passed through, its 

 general features, water-courses, and mountain ranges. If such 

 an abridged account as the diary I was in the habit of keeping 

 while in the field must necessarily be replete with interest at 

 the present time, it will naturally be still more so in future 

 times, when the primitive state of the greater part of the south- 

 eastern extremity of the Australian Continent will have passed 

 out of recollection." 



At the commencement of his work he used a springcart with 

 one horse, for he soon found tliat the jolting and knocking 



I 



