ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. XXV. 



Addresses were then delivered, as given below, by 

 speakers who had been asked to discuss subjects which 

 were dealt with by the Philosophical Society of Australasia. 



Astronomy. — Professor W. E. Cooke, m.a., f.r.a.s., con- 

 tributed the following: — Sir Thomas Brisbane arrived in 

 Australia as Governor of New South Wales in November 

 1821. Prior to his departure from England he endeavoured 

 to persuade the British Government to establish an Obser- 

 vatory in the new Colony, but it had already been decided 

 to found one at the Cape of Good Hope, and the Govern- 

 ment was not disposed to subsidise two such institutions 

 in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, Sir Thomas 

 decided to equip one at his own expense, purchased an 

 outfit of books and instruments, and engaged two astro- 

 nomical assistants, viz., Charles Rumker and James 

 Dunlop. The former had already attained a position as a 

 good astronomer and mathematician; and the latter, though 

 untrained, was young and enthusiastic, with great natural 

 ability for mechanics. 



A site for the Observatory was selected, close to the 

 Governor's residence at Parramatta, and the work of build- 

 ing was at once commenced. The Observatory was com- 

 pleted in April 1822, and then commenced that extra- 

 ordinary partnership of three utterly dissimilar persons, 

 Brisbane, Rumker, and Dunlop, disliking each other 

 intensely, and yet banded together by their absorbing 

 passion for the sublime science. 1 Before leaving England 

 it was Rumker whom Sir Thomas always asked to assist in 

 the pendulum observations. In Australia this same work 

 appears to have been assigned to Dunlop. The friction 

 between Brisbane and Rumker became so great that the 

 latter severed his connection and left the Observatory in 



1 See letter from Deputy-Assistant Commissary-General Boyes. 

 Mitchell Library. 



