INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 9 
an astronomical undertaking, which rendered necessary several 
important additions to the instrumental equipment of the Obser- 
vatory, and conduced considerably to the extension and growth 
of astronomical knowledge in the colony, for several of the best 
surveyors who were appointed to assist in the new survey were 
trained to the use of special instruments and to very important 
astronomical work ; the demands made upon the Observatory as 
the survey progressed rendered necessary more assistance, which 
at first was afforded by the honorary service of the late Sir 
George Verdon (then | Mr. Verdon), the late Captain Fullarton, 
and Jas. Smibert, Esq., who had all previously had some training 
in observatory work ; these gentlemen were appointed honorary 
assistants, and did ‘yeoman’s service at the Observatory for 
nearly a year, when Mr. E. J. White was appointed chief assis- 
tant. The survey occupied many years, but before it was com- 
pleted the Observatory was removed to its present site in Mel- 
bourne in 1862, chiefly because the encroachment of the rail- 
way works had rendered the site unfitted for astronomical opera- 
tions. The magnetic observatory, hitherto carried on by Pro- 
fessor Neumayer at the Flagstaff Hill, Melbourne, was moved 
to the new Observatory y site in 1860, and was eventually amal- 
gamated with the astronomical department in 1861, when Pro- 
fessor Neumayer retired, and returned to Europe. _ - 
In 1854 Mr. John Tebbutt, of Windsor, New South Wales, 
following the footsteps of Sir Thomas Brisbane at Parramatta, 
began an astronomical career, and has since built and equipped 
an excellent observatory, with good instruments, and has devoted 
his time, money and energy to the advancement of astronomical 
knowledge in Australia in a thoroughly earnest and practical 
manner, and some of the results of his earliest work were con- 
tributed to the Sydney press as early as 1856, and perhaps 
earher. Subsequently we find valuable contributions, both 
observational and mathematical, in many of the most important 
astronomical publications of Europe and America, and since 
1887 he has published privately each year an account of his 
work. His splendid cometic work, extending over nearly forty 
years, is in itself a grand contribution to astronomy, indepen- 
dent of the results he has secured from observations embracing 
a wide range of subjects. 
To Mr. Tebbutt’s enterprise, persevering and well-directed 
personal work belongs no small share of Australia’s contribu- 
tion to astronomy during the last thirty years. He was the 
first discoverer of the er and comet of May, 1861, which has since 
been known as Tebbutt’s comet. 
In 1857 the building of a new observatory in Sydney was com- 
menced, and completed in 1858. The principal instruments 
used by Sir Thomas Brisbane at Parramatta were remounted, 
and astronomical work resumed after a break of about nine 
