William Dawes and Dawes Observatory (Dawes Point)

The voyage of the "First Fleet" from Britain to the new colony of New South Wales was not only a military enterprise, it also had a distinct scientific purpose. Britain's fifth Astronomer Royal, Nevil Maskelyne, had selected William Dawes, a promising young Marine with a propensity for astronomical observations, as his protégé. Maskelyne convinced the British Board of Longitude to supply Dawes with a suite of state-of-the-art instruments and allow the young Marine to establish an observatory in the new settlement. The Astronomer Royal may have had a dual motivation, one driven by strategic national interests combined with a personal investment linked to the suggested re-appearance of a comet in the southern sky. With the unexpected assistance of the French Lapérouse expedition, between 1788 and 1791 Dawes established not one but two observatories within a kilometre of Sydney's present-day city centre. Motivated by persisting confusion in the literature, we explore the historical record to narrow down the precise location of Dawes' observatory. We conclude that the memorial plaque attached to Sydney Harbour Bridge indicates an incorrect location. Overwhelming contemporary evidence -- maps, charts and pictorial representations -- implies that Dawes' observatory was located on the northeastern tip of the promontory presently known as The Rocks (formerly Dawes' Point), with any remains having vanished during the construction of the Harbour Bridge.

Prof Richard de Grijs

Richard de Grijs is a prolific public speaker on topics ranging from astronomy and astrophysics to maritime history. Richard holds professional appointments as professor of astrophysics at Macquarie University and as Executive Director of the International Space Science Institute--Beijing. He recently published the first detailed biography of William Dawes, the astronomer assigned to the “First Fleet” from England to Australia (1787–1788). His academic accolades include the 2012 Selby Award from the Australian Academy of Science, a 2017 Erskine Award from the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) and the 2023 Excellence in Research Integrity award from Macquarie University's Faculty of Science and Engineering. He also received the 2022 Blacktown Mayoral History Prize and the 2022 Hella Mannheimer Award (Hektoen International Journal of Medical Humanities).

Note: This will be an in-person presentation at the Green Point Observatory. Members will also receive an invitation to join online for those who cannot make it to the GPO.