METEOROLOGICAL WORK IN AUSTRALIA. 247 



mometers at depths of 10ft., 5ft., 2ft. 6in., and lin. ; an evapora- 

 tion tank, or atmometer, &c. ; a record, combined with the valuable 

 astronomical work being done, worthy of the oldest colony of the 

 group, which had already gained distinction in its promotion of 

 science by the Daw^es Point Observatory, erected in 1788, and 

 the celebrated Paramatta Observatory, established in 1821 by Sir 

 Thomas Brisbane. 



In Mr. Tebbutt, Mr. Russell has found a most valuable coadjutor. 

 That gentleman has not only carried imt an extensive series of 

 astronomical observations entirely at his own cost, but also 

 furnished his observatory with a complete meteorological outfit. 



In Victoria there were only broken records of rainfall, tempera- 

 ture, and weather, made chiefly by New South Wales officials 

 in Melbourne, from 1840 to about 1849, and of rainfall up to 1851. 

 In 1 854 observations of barometer and temperature for astronomical 

 purposes only, and of rainfall, were made at the VVilliamstown 

 Observatory, then in charge of Mr. R. L. J. Ellery. Meteorological 

 observations were also made at Melbourne bj- Mr. Brough Smyth, 

 of the Crown Lands Department, from 1856 to the end of Feb- 

 ruary, 1858, when Professor Neumayer, now director of the 

 Nautical Observatory at Hamburg, commenced systematic obser- 

 vations at the new ^Nlagaetic and Meteorological Observatory, at 

 Flagstaff Hill, Melbourne. Dr. Neumayer also established several 

 observing stations at the lighthouses on the coast, and at a few 

 places inland. 



On the retirement of Dr. Neumayer in 1863, the Magnetic and 

 Meteorological Department was transferred to the present Astrono- 

 mical Observatory, then just erected, and placed under the direc- 

 tion of the as ronomer, Mr. Ellery. in whose hands the institution 

 soon became what it is to-day — not only a credit to the colony which 

 founded it, but second to none in the Southern Hemisphere. He 

 threw all his energy and skill as a physicist into his work, and 

 early introduced photographic and other systems, by which we 

 obtain continuous records of all variations of terrestrial magnetism, 

 barometric pressure, and changes of temperature, electrical states 

 of the atmosphere, and the direction and force or velocity 

 of the wind, besides thermometers sunk at various depths 

 (3ft., 6ft., and 8ft.) to determine the temperature of the ground; 

 while, as regards astronomy, we have only to visit the observatory 

 to see that it possesses some of the finest instruments in the 

 world. 



Besides the Melbourne Observatory, he has established meteoro- 

 logical stations of the second order at Portland. Cape Otway, 

 Wilson's Promontory, Gabo Island, Ballarat (Mount Pleasant), 

 Bendigo, Echuca, Sale (at the School of Mines), and twenty- 

 three stations of the third order, besides 515 rainfall stations 

 judiciously distributed throughout the colony. 



