SOUTHERN ASTRONOMERS and
AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY
THE WILLIAM DAWES OBSERVATORY
When considering Australia’s first
permanent Observatory one of the first things to be asked is why
there was an Observatory at all in a new convict settlement. The
whole thing seems to be out of keeping with the situation. Here was a
new colony severely handicapped by shortages of labour, materials and
food. In fact the only things which Governor Phillip never seemed to
be short of were mouths to feed and complaints from everybody. Yet he
was giving the building of an observatory a high priority. We need to
look at the astronomical scene at the time to answer this.
During the 17th and 18th centuries Maritime countries like Britain
were extending their exploration and trading operations further into
the unknown parts of the globe and sea routes were getting longer.
Unfortunately navigational methods were not keeping pace with these
extensions. Navigators were able to get their latitude accurately
enough by observations of the Sun or the brighter stars when they
were on the Meridian but longitude was much more difficult because a
method had to be devised of comparing the ships local time derived by
astronomical observations with the time at a standard place such as
Greenwich. This problem was not solved until the middle of the 18th
Century. One solution was the invention of the Marine Chronometer by
John Harrison who after much delay was awarded the prize of
£20,000 offered by the Board of Longitude. The award was not
made until a copy of Harrison’s
timekeeper No. 4. was made by Larcom Kendall. Larcom Kendall’s No.1. Marine Timekeeper. (K1.) was taken
by Captain James Cook on his second voyage of discovery. Cook was so
impressed by its performance he referred to it as;
“our trusty friend” and “our
never failing guide”.
While the Chronometer was being developed another way of finding
longitude was being perfected. This was the method of lunar distances
which had been thought of in the early 16th century but was useless
until the orbit of the Moon was sufficiently well known. Tables of
the Moon constructed by Tobias Mayer were used by Nevil Maskelyne the
Astronomer Royal to compile the necessary tables which were published
in the first Nautical Almanac for the year 1767. The angular distance
of the Moon from nearby stars was published for every three hours in
Greenwich time, and by measuring these distances with a sextant the
navigator could find the Greenwich time. The method was extremely
complicated and we have to admire both Maskelyne for perfecting the
method and the navigators for being able to use it.
This then was the situation in 1786 when the First Fleet under the
command of Captain Phillip was preparing to sail to Botany Bay.
Chronometers were few in number and expensive. The lunar distance
method was the most commonly used but there was still a lot of
observational work to be done. Much was being done at Greenwich and
other important observatories but there was a great need for
observing to be done in other parts of the World. It was the general
practice to have professional astronomers aboard expeditions of
discovery such as Cook’s voyages. When
on land they used portable observatories covered by tents. Writing in
the Nautical Almanac of 1788 Maskelyne said;
“It is indeed to be
lamented that persons who visit distant countries are not more
diligent to multiply observations of this kind, for want of which the
Observations made by astronomers in established observatories lose
half their use and the improvement of geography is retarded.”
So when Lieutenant William Dawes of the Royal Marines who was a
proficient Astronomical Observer volunteered for service in the First
Fleet and expressed a wish to set up an observatory in the new
colony, Maskelyne jumped at the chance of having the young astronomer
at Botany Bay.
The Board of Longitude agreed that Dawes undertake this task and
that the instruments and books chosen by Maskelyne for the
observatory should be sent in the Sirius under the care of
Captain Phillip. These included an astronomical clock by John Shelton
and a journeyman or assistant clock. It had a gong which sounded
every minute and the seconds could be counted from the clock’s ticking. There was also an astronomical
quadrant by John Bird of 12-inch radius which was much used on
voyages of discovery. It was not for use on board ship but for
determining accurately the latitude and longitude of places on land.
There were two telescopes belonging to Maskelyne. This was presumably
a Comet sweeper so that Dawes could look for a Comet which was
predicted to return soon after the founding of the colony. Dawes did
not find the Comet but then it was not found in Europe either so most
likely the prediction was astray. There was also a Hadley’s sextant by Ramsden two thermometers and a
barometer. Possibly Dawes had some of his own equipment as well as
some given him on the way by Colonel Gordon in South Africa but none
of this was listed. One instrument aboard the Sirius deserves
special mention namely Larcom Kendal’s
No.1. timekeeper (K1) the one used by Cook. Special instructions were
given by Captain Phillip that the chronometer was to be wound every
day at noon. Nevertheless it was forgotten once when Phillip
transferred to the Supply after the fleet left Capetown and ran down,
so that Dawes had the job of resetting it to Greenwich time by the
lunar distance method.
Dawes was at first happy that the books and instruments should be
in Phillip’s charge but later he wrote
to Maskelyne expressing doubts that he might require the Nautical
Almanac at the same time as Phillip. Markelyne solved this by sending
Dawes another set of the books. However Dawes and Phillip never did
get on well together and their disagreement eventually led to Dawes
not being able to stay in the colony as long as he would have
wished.
Of Dawes’s early life we know
practically nothing; except for his letters to Maskelyne which are
preserved in the Board of Longitude papers most of his papers have
been destroyed, some on the death of one of his descendants and the
rest during a hurricane in Antigua where he spent the last years of
his life. From what other people have to say of him it is clear that
he was a man of strong Christian beliefs and convictions. He was
unbending when it came to matters of conscience but at the same time
was liked and respected by all who knew him. Lt. Southwell of the
Sirius in a letter to his mother said of Dawes;
“He has a great share
of genuine knowledge, studious yet ever cheerful and the goodness of
his disposition renders him esteemed and respected by all who know
him” Of his physical
appearance we have no record and so far as I know there are no
pictures of him.
The First Fleet sailed from Portsmouth on 17th May 1787. Dawes was
keen to make observations at every port of call but when they reached
Teneriffe Phillip would not let the instruments be taken off the ship
because the clock and quadrant were stowed underneath the bread. At
Rio de Janiero Phillip did allow the instruments to be taken ashore
so Dawes was able to erect an observatory tent, install the
instruments and make the kind of observations required by the Board
of Longitude. About a month was spent at Rio. Again at the Cape of
Good Hope Phillip would not allow Dawes to take the instruments
ashore. However Dawes met Colonel Robert Gordon commander of the
Dutch troops who was interested in astronomy and had some
instruments. Dawes apparently did some observing with Gordon who gave
him some instruments to help with the work at Botany Bay.
When the fleet arrived in Sydney Cove, Dawes was anxious to get on
with the building of the observatory but his duties as a Marine
Officer had to come first. He was appointed engineer and Officer of
Artillery and was also required to undertake duties as a surveyor, a
man who was incapable of performing his duties; but by the end of
April 1788 he was able to make a start on the Observatory. The
Observatory had two buildings, one an octagonal building nine feet in
diameter built on a rock “very large
and firm”. This building housed the
quadrant and had a revolving conical roof with a shutter. The apex of
the cone was about a foot from the centre so that observations could
be made in the zenith. A second building was rectangular 16 feet by
12 feet also with shutters in the roof. This also served as a home
for Dawes. One end of it butted against a rock on which the octagonal
building stood and the two were joined by a stairway. So far as we
can ascertain both buildings were of timber with the octagonal
building having a roof of canvas. The whole project was delayed by
the lack of suitable tradesmen in the colony but it was completed by
July 1788. The Observatory was situated on the Western point of
Sydney Cove which is now known as Dawes Point. At that time at the
suggestion of Dawes it was named Point Maske!yne by Captain
Hunter.
Dawes now tried to get on with his Astronomy but the Governor
continued to load other jobs on to him and judging by his letters the
astronomical observing went rather slowly. Yet he seems to have kept
a close lookout for the non-appearing comet, discovered some new
nebulae, observed an eclipse of the Sun and made observations on the
Moon’s parallax and Jupiter’s satellites. From all the available letters
to Maskelyne it is possible to obtain a picture of the work Dawes did
in his little observatory. He clearly was following the instructions
which were fairly standard at the time for astronomers who
accompanied sea-faring expeditions. These set out the observations to
be made at sea including those needed to determine latitude and
longitude, magnetic and meteorological observations and general
navigation calculations. On land the tent observatory was to be set
up and similar observations made together with gravity and tidal
recordings. Because of his other duties Dawes was not able to devote
as much time to the observatory as he wanted to. His work as surveyor
took him on several expeditions into the interior of the country. On
these he was accompanied by Watkin Tench who has left a very full
account. On one trip they penetrated fifty-three miles westward into
the Blue Mountains to a point beyond the present town of Linden. But
for a shortage of supplies Dawes might well have been the first white
man to cross the Blue Mountains within two years of the foundation of
the colony. Dawes was planning to stay in New South Wales after his
term of service with the Marines expired but his quarrel with the
Governor made this impossible.
Firstly Phillip’s game-keeper was
murdered by the Aborigines towards the end of 1790. Dawes and Tench
were put in charge of a party of Marines to round up the offenders
and made drastic punishment including some executions and
transportation of others to Norfolk Island. Dawes at first refused
this duty and later accepted it very reluctantly because he had made
friends among the Aborigines and was trying to convert them to
Christianity. The expedition did not result in any executions or
transportations but Dawes informed the Governor in the presence of
his adjutant Lieutenant Long that he was sorry he had been persuaded
to comply with the order and that he would not obey similar orders in
future. Secondly Dawes brought some flour from a convict which was
against an order by Governor Phillip intended to prevent rackets in
food and rum due to the extreme shortage of food in the colony. Dawes
maintained that he had bought the flour from the convict, who
was the baker for the garrison, believing that it was an extra
allowance and not part of the man’s
ration. Phillip did not accept this, but agreed that Dawes could
remain in the colony if he apologised for his misdemeanours and
undertook not to offend again. This Dawes refused to do and left for
England in December 1791 taking with him the observatory
equipment.
So the young nation lost the services of a remarkable man who
would have contributed much had he been given the chance. The last we
hear of the little observatory is from John Crossley the astronomer
with H.M.S. Providence which came to Sydney on 28th August
1795. He wrote,
“I went on shore and
examined the place where Mr. Dawes’
observatory was built but found nothing standing but the uprights
which supported the roof and the pillar on which he placed his
quadrants.”
So passed Australia’s first observatory.
Last Update : 14th November 2012
Southern Astronomical Delights ©
(2012)
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