ASTRONOMICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL WORKERS. 63 



said it was wliolly due to some sudden incompatibility of temper, 

 and many years afterwards when Sir George Airy, as President 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society was presenting to Mr. 

 Rumker, the Gold Medal, said " some misapprehension on one 

 side or the other as to the precise terms of his engagement 

 brought the connection with Sir Thomas Brisbane to a close ! I 

 am totally unable to say with accuracy what was the point 

 under discussion or the merits of the two views of it." It is, 

 however, quite evident that Rumker did not return until Sir 

 Thomas had left, and that in all his subsequent writings about 

 Parramatta, he entirely ignores the fact that Sir Thomas Brisbane 

 was the founder of the Observatory, and for a time his chief. 



Again, it appears from correspondence in the Survey Office, 

 found by Mr. W. D. Campbell, C.E., and given to me that on 

 "January yth, 1828, Rumker made a requisition for the rods 

 and cylinders for the trigonometrical survey in connection with 

 an arc of the meridian, which he had undertaken to measure," 

 and, as we have already seen, he gave up the observations at 

 Parramatta in December, the same year. As the apparatvis 

 could not have been obtained from England under one or two 

 years, and it would have taken a number of years to measure 

 the arc, it is evident that there was a sudden change of purpose 

 between 1828 and 1830, by Mr. Rumker, and that he threw up 

 his appointment while in Europe, where he seems to have gone in 

 December, 1828, or the beginning of 1829. 



By a letter which I found in the Colonial Secretary's Office, 

 date 1st September, 1830, it appears that Mi\ Rumker was in 

 England and preparing to return to the colony, (Appendix E.) 

 It seems, therefore, probable that he had been granted leave of 

 absence to go to England and superintend the purchase of 

 instruments for the survey, and that while there he suddenly 

 changed his mind and threw up his appointment. 



James Dunlop. 



We are told in the introduction to the Parramatta Catalogue 

 " that James Dunlop was one of two gentlemen selected by Sir 

 Thomas Brisbane to act as Astronomers in his Observatory," and 

 there is nothing said beyond this as to their relative rank ; but 

 from the fact that before starting Mr. Rumker was selected to 

 take part with Sir Thomas in very important work, it seems 

 probable that Rumker was first assistant and Dunlop second. 

 From the time of his arrival in Sydney, Dunlop seems to have 

 worked with a zeal and perseverance that not only justifies his 

 selection, but made Sir Thomas speak more highly of him than 

 he did of Mr. Rumker, and set him to do specially difficult 

 work, such as the observations of length of pendulum, etc. With 

 Rumker, he observed regularly for the formation of tlie Catalogue. 

 Both instruments, the transit and mural circle, were used for 



