Melbourne Observatory — Attraction in Melbourne

Melbourne Observatory was founded in 1862 to serve as a scientific research institution for the rapidly growing city of Melbourne, the capital of the colony of Victoria. The observatory was tasked by the Victorian government with maintaining an accurate time reference for the colony through observations of stars using a transit telescope as well as general astronomical research.

The idea for a Melbourne Observatory was first proposed by English astronomer William Parkinson Wilson in a paper read before The Philosophical Institute of Victoria in 1856; and soon after a committee was formed to "achieve Wilson's 'noble object'".The site chosen was a gentle hill adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Shortly after founding a 48-inch (120 cm) telescope was installed at the observatory for astronomical research and for a while it was the largest fully steerable telescope in the world. This instrument was referred to as the "Great Melbourne Telescope".

In 1874 the observatory took part in the worldwide effort to observe the Transit of Venus in order to better determine the distance of Earth to the Sun.

Towards the end of the 1880s the observatory took part in the international "Carte du Ciel" project to map the heavens using the, then novel, technique of photography. Being the most southerly of the sites taking part, Melbourne was assigned the region around the south celestial pole south of declination -65°.

With the coming of federation in 1901 the Commonwealth government was assigned the responsibility for astronomy and time-keeping and control of the observatory was gradually handed over by the state government. At the same time, the encroaching light pollution from the growing city of Melbourne gradually made quality astronomical observations increasingly difficult. Then, in 1933 the flood-lit Shrine of Remembrance was completed in the parkland adjacent to the observatory impacting its skies further, until the observatory was finally closed in 1945. Most of the scientific equipment and instruments, including the Great Melbourne Telescope, were sold or moved elsewhere.

Today, while most of the original buildings still stand on the site, only two of the original instruments remain. Both were installed in 1874 to observe the transit of Venus. One is an 8-inch (20 cm) refracting telescope by Troughton and Simms of London, and the other is a fully restored 4-inch (10 cm) Photoheliograph by Dallmeyer of London. The Photoheliograph is privately owned and on indefinite loan to the Astronomical Society of Victoria. The building which was used by the 13-inch (330 mm) astrograph telescope for the "Carte du Ciel" survey now houses a 12-inch (300 mm) Newtonian reflector telescope owned by the Astronomical Society of Victoria.

The Great Melbourne Telescope was eventually moved to the Mount Stromlo Observatory where it was badly damaged in the 2003 Canberra bushfires, and a project is underway to restore the telescope to working order so that it may be used for educational and public viewing in its original home at the Melbourne Observatory. This is a joint undertaking of Museum Victoria, the Astronomical Society of Victoria and the Royal Botanic Gardens. The restoration project will incorporate bringing the telescope's optical, mechanical and electrical systems into line with current best practice. After more than five years weighing up different proposals, engineering work commenced in late 2013 thanks to a $70,000 grant from the...

Beautiful location and cafe. Just disappointed because despite the rain and bad weather we were still happy to come. Online a specific white chocolate iced latte had been advertised and was the main reason for our visit here. We arrived at 1:30 and attempted to go into the cafe and we were told that it was shut which online it is advertised as open until 4pm and they directed us to the terrace and explained it was the exact same menu so we were happy to oblige as we were told it was the same menu so we were under the impression we could get the same drink. We endured the rain and walked to the next cafe the terrace only to find they were different menus and didn’t include the drink we came here for. We then thought they had a takeaway out the front of the observatory and we could walk back and get our drink from there or so we thought. We headed back in the rain to the takeaway observatory out front of the cafe only to find out they do not have the same menu either and we couldn’t get our drink. Quite disappointing we understand there might have had a function on and we can appreciate that but we were fed false information and we cannot understand how the takeaway did not have the same drink very...

Six of us came here for a Melbourne Observatory tour on a Thursday night. Despite the cold weather and the cloudy skies, we actually really enjoyed the tour. All three tour guides were very knowledgeable and took us around, giving us information about the history of the telescopes and the Observatory itself. In one particular room with a wooden dome ceiling, we were all very intrigued in the acoustics and the way the sound bounced off the ceiling. It gave the impression that someone’s voice from the opposite side of the room was amplified on a speaker, even if they were only whispering. It was an awesome phenomenon and it seemed to excite us more than a cloudy close-up of the moon. Thank you very much...