TWO AUSTRALIAN ASTRONOMY ANNIVERSARIES IN 2026

1926 Replacement of the NSW Government Astronomer

William Cooke in his office at Sydney Observatory soon after his appointment in 2012. Town and Country Journal, Wednesday 21 August 1912, p34. Colourised image.

William Ernest Cooke (1863–1947) had been the NSW Government Astronomer since 1912, when in 1925 the state government decided to close Sydney Observatory and abolish Cooke’s position. A new premier of NSW, the fiery Jack Lang (1876–1975), wanted to close the Observatory on the basis that, just as the Commonwealth had taken over weather forecasting, it should also be responsible for astronomical work. There were strong objections to this plan from the Observatory’s Board of Visitors and from the various scientific societies in the State.

The objections had an effect. The government decided to allow the Observatory to continue its work, but with a much reduced staff. Cooke still had to retire and he was replaced by the Superintendent of Technical Education, James Nangle, in an honorary capacity and taking no salary. A bitter Cooke’s last day at Sydney Observatory was 31 August 1926.

Further reading

Nick Lomb (2023). Closing Encounters: The Efforts of the NSW Branch of the British Astronomical Association to Save Sydney Observatory. In: Gullberg, S., Robertson, P. (eds) Essays on Astronomical History and Heritage. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29493-8_28

Ian Tasker (2019). Power, politics and personalities in Australian astronomy: William Ernest Cooke and the triangulation of the Pacific by wireless time signals. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, Volume 22, Issue 1, 2019, Page 113 – 131. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2019.01.07

1976 The Melbourne Eclipse

The track of the 1976 total solar eclipse across south-east Australia. The red line is the centre line, while the purple lines are the northern and southern limits of the eclipse track. Drawing Nick Lomb, underlying map https://d-maps.com/

The eclipse track of the 23 October 1976 eclipse reached Australia at the coast of South Australia, near Millicent. It then crossed over Victoria and exited mainland Australia in NSW, near the south coast town of Merimbula.

Elaborate plans were drawn up by the authorities for the 2 minute 45 seconds of totality to be seen from Melbourne, then with a population of 2.8 million people. These mainly involved warnings to the public not to watch the eclipse directly, as it was too dangerous, and only watch on television. Posters on street corners screamed, “WARNING! SOLAR ECLIPSE TODAY’, with similar flyers inserted into newspapers on the day of the eclipse.

This was a major overreaction to protecting people’s eyesight. Part of the problem was that, as yet, there were no accepted safe filters for viewing the partial phases of the eclipse. Available filters were welding filters, smoked glass and exposed black and white photographic film. These were not fully trusted. Neither were the new aluminium-coated mylar filters being marketed by American astronomy retailer Roger Tuthill. These latter filters are now ubiquitous as solar filters, but back in 1976, there was no international standard for their use.

To the relief of the authorities, it was cloudy in Melbourne during the eclipse, preventing eye damage for the public. Similarly, it was cloudy at the NSW town of Bombala, where most professional and serious amateur astronomers had set up their observing equipment.

Further reading

Nick Lomb and Toner Stevenson (2023) Eclipse Chasers, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne