ASTRONOMICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL WORKERS. 53 



For nearly all the facts in this account of Adniii^al King's work in 

 Australia I am indebted to the Honorable P. G. King, M.L.C, 



Sir Thomas Macdougall Brisbane. 



"We come now to Sir Thomas Brisbane, a man whose enthusiasm 

 for science, and especially for Astronomy, knew no bounds. In 

 the midst of harassing marches in the great Continental war, 

 with the enemies' bullets always whistling about him, his sextant 

 was always in his baggage, and came into active service directly 

 its owner was otf duty. His appointment as Govei'nor of New South 

 Wales marks an era in the history of Australian Science, and his 

 princely munificence in the erection of the Parramatta Observa- 

 tory and cost of maintaining it for four years, will never be 

 forgotten. Sir Thomas Brisbane entered the army in 1790, 

 fought in the first battle of the war, and in 1794 had to sleep 

 six nights in the snow with nothing but his cloak and the 

 canopy of heaven over him. Each morning he found himself 

 frozen to the ground, and during one of these nights 900 soldiers 

 were frozen to death around him. He fought in fourteen general 

 actions, twenty-three great affairs, and assisted at eight sieges. 

 He crossed the equator twelve times, yet throughout this busy 

 active life he always found time to cultivate his favorite study. 

 Astronomy, and when it was proposed to send him to govern the 

 far-off Colony of Australia, Lord Bathurst informed the Duke of 

 Wellington that he " wanted a man to govern, not the heavens, 

 but the earth." Sir Thomas appealed to the Duke to say whether 

 science had ever stood in the way of his duty as a soldier. 

 " Certainly not," said the Duke, " I shall say that you were never 

 in one instance absent or late in the morning, noon, or night, 

 and that in addition you keep the time for the army." 



It is not surprising that a man of such antecedents, pei"severing 

 and methodical in his habits, and having a passion for astronomical 

 pursuits, should catch the feeling of the day, which asked for two 

 astronomical observatories to explore the wonders of the southern 

 sky, and when he found the Government would not give the 

 money, put his hand into his own purse and found all that was 

 required. Arrived at Parramatta, the instruments were unpacked 

 and used within a few days to observe the solstice in December, 

 1821, before there was an observatory to cover them • and that 

 he might devote every spare moment to the work he built the 

 Observatory alongside his residence, and there is abundant 

 evidence to prove that at first, and before his official position 

 brought so many worries, Sir Thomas was one of the most active 

 of the three observers. 



It was in recognition of his princely patronage of Astronomy, 

 and for the abundance of observations that came pouring in from 

 Parramatta, that in 1828 the Royal Astronomical Society awarded 

 him the Gold JNIedal for the Pari-amatta Catalogue of Stars and 



