Astronomical and Meteorological Workers in New South Wales
Introduction
Lieutenant Dawes
Captain Flinders
Admiral Phillip Parker King
Sir Thomas MacDougall Brisbane
Dr. Charles Stargard Rumker
James Dunlop
P. E. De Strzelecki
Captain J. C. Wickham
Rev. W. B. Clarke, M.A.
Rev. A. Glennie
E. C. Close
Sir William Macarthur
J. Boucher
S. H. Officer
John Wyndham
William Stanley Jevons
Establishment of Meteorological Observatories
Votes and Proceedings, N.S.W., 1848.
Appendix A.
Appendix B.
Appendix C.
Appendix D.
Appendix E.
Appendix F.
Appendix G.
Appendix H.
Appendix I.
Appendix J.
Appendix K.
Appendix L.
Appendix M.
Appendix N.
Appendix O.
Appendix P.
Appendix Q.
Appendix R.
Appendix S.
Appendix T.
Appendix U.
Endnotes
Index
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Captain P. P. King, the son of Governor King, was one of the earliest workers in the field of science in Australia.
In the year 1817 the British Government resolved to send him, then a lieutenant, to complete the surveys of the coasts of New South Wales. He arrived in Port Jackson in September, 1817, with Messrs. Bedwell and Roe as his assistants, and in Sydney his party was joined by Allan Cunningham, "the King's Botanist" in the Colony.
In these voyages, which extended over four years, December, 1817, to April, 1822, during which he received promotion, Captain King in addition to his maritime discoveries and to the study of natural history in general gave much attention to the phsical conditions and climate of the various parts of the coast which he visited, and also to the customs and language of the aboriginal inhabitants.
He also carefully determined the longitude of a number of important positions in the survey.
In recognition of his ability and services the Royal Society elected him as one of its Fellows, and he was also elected as a Member of the Linnean and Royal Asiatic Societies.
The result of his survey was published in two volumes, entitled "A Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia." (2 Vols. 8vo., London, 1827.)
Charts of the coast henceforth designated by him and others at the suggestion of Captain Flinders "Australia," were compiled and published under the authority of the Hydrographer to the Admiralty.
In preparing his narrative for the press he was ably assisted by Dr. J. E. Gray of the British Museum in vertebrata and mollusca, by Mr. Vigors in respect to some of his birds, and Mr. William Sharpe McLeay in his collection of insects; also by Mr. Robert Brown, the eminent botanist of Flinders' voyage in the "Investigator," and Dr. W. H. Fitton, in geology. These distinguished men classified and described the numerous specimens of natural history which he had taken to England, many of which were new to science.
People in Bright Sparcs - Flinders, Matthew; King, Phillip Parker; Russell, Henry Chamberlain
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© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
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