POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Rain gauge (pluviograph)

Object No. H7354

"Mr. Tornaghi for the Sydney Observatory has also constructed numbers of tide-gauges, standard barometers, self-registering barometers, micrometer eye-pieces, and numberless other instruments of importance." While it is not known who made this rain-gauge, it seems likely that it was made locally by either Tornaghi or in the Observatory's own workshop. Measuring rainfall was an important feature of the Observatory's work and the staff not only obtained gauges for their own use, but also provided instruments to other meteorological stations around New South Wales. By 1860 meteorological observations, including rainfall, were being systematically collected every month and sent to the Observatory where the data was collected. This gauge was in use at Sydney Oservatory prior to 1900 and was transferred to the Bureau of Meteorology in 1922. It remains of State significance due to its pioneering role in Australian science and its association with Australia's earliest astronomers, meteorologists and scientific instrument makers. Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator, October 2007 References Meteorological Observations at the Radcliffe Observatory, Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, Number 5, Winter 1985 Australian Men of Mark, Volume 2, Charles F. Maxwell, Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, 1889 Harley Wood, 'The Sky and the Weather', A Century of Scientific Progress: the Centenary Volume of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Published by the Society, Science House, Sydney, 1986 Casella, L., An Illustrated descriptive Catalogue of Surveying, Philosophical, Mathematical, Optical, photographic and Standard Meteorological Instruments, D. Lane, Steam Printer, 310 Strand, London, 1871 Knight, E.H., Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, Volume III, Hurd & Houghton, Cambridge, 1876 Russell, H.C., Results of Meteorological Observations made in New South Wales during 1887, Charles Potter, Government Printer, 1889