14 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
observing parties from both the observatories left Sydney on 
22nd November, 1871, arriving at Claremont Island on 7th 
December, several days before the eclipse, giving ample time for 
erecting the observatories ‘and instruments, and also for pre- 
liminary drill at the various operations involved. 
The day of the eclipse, however, turned out most unpropitious, 
heavy thunderstorms and incessant rain prevailing during the 
whole period of totality, and continued most of the day. The 
expedition was, therefore, a failure so far as astronomy was 
concerned. 
The great astronomical events of the century—the transits of 
Venus across the sun’s disc, which offer the best opportunity for 
measuring the sun’s parallax, and hence its distance from the 
earth—were to occur in December, 1874, and again in December, 
1882. In order that the phenomenon should be observed with 
all the precision that the most recent knowledge and greatly- 
improved instruments made possible, astronomers all over the 
world co-operated in the undertaking, and made timely prepara- 
tions, so that some weeks before the occurrence observing parties 
of one nationality or another occupied the majority of the most 
favourable positions on the earth’s surface for the observations. 
Of course, Australasian observatories also made arrangements 
to do their share in this work, and both in New South Wales, 
Victoria, and South Australia, observing stations were selected, 
temporary observatories built, and instruments mounted before 
hand, so that the observers had plenty of observing practice 
before the day of transit. The weather proved generally pro- 
pitious, and most of the observing parties were successful. The 
results of the work in each of the three colonies named were 
thoroughly satisfactory. In Victoria the observing stations were 
Me'bourne, Bendigo, Sale, and Mornington. In New South 
Wales at Sydney, Woodford, Goulburn, and Eden. Tasmania 
was occupied by two observing parties of American astronomers, 
who observed successfully at Hobart and Campbelltown, while in 
New Zealand an English party, under Major Palmer, observed at 
Burnham, near Christchurch, and an American one at Queens- 
town. 
Transits of Venus across the sun’s disc, as is well known, 
occur only twice in a little over a century ; first, an interval of 
104 or 105 years, then a shorter one of eight years, and so on. 
if we count from 1769, the transit observed by Capt. Cook, to 
1874 gives an interval of 105 years, and eight years after the 
1874 transit another occurred in 1882; the next will take place 
in 2004, followed by another in 2012. 
The transit of December, 1882, did not present such favour- 
able conditions as that of 1874, because the first phases occurred 
before sunrise over Australasian lands. Preparations were, how- 
ever, made for its observation. New South Wales formed five 
