POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Portrait painting of W F Gale

Object No. P3549-2

Walter Frederick Gale was born in Sydney and by the age of nineteen had constructed his own 18-inch reflecting telescope. He became Manager and Chief Inspector for the Bank of New South Wales and his income allowed him to indulge in his astronomical hobby. His special interests were the study of the surface of Mars and watching comets, three of which were named after him. Gale went on at least two eclipse expeditions, the first in 1893 was accompanying the Lick Observatory Party to Mina Bronces, in Chile. The second was as leader of an expedition to Goondiwindi in Queensland to view the 1922 eclipse of the sun. References Haynes, Raymond, Haynes, Roslynn, Malin, david, McGee, Richard, Explorers of the Southern Sky, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996