observatory

Well it was "new" in 1880, if that helps. books.google.ca/books?id=cRw4AAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA659&o...

NIAH website tell us it was built between 1875 and 1885 yet sign over the door reads 1880!! No civil engineering building! The NIAH says the then Chemistry and Physics labs were built 1905-1915 while the Dictionary of Irish Architects records show the labs built 1909-1911. Even before the labs were built I think we ought to be able to see the Carrigside and/or Edler Wood terraces on College Road. They were built---again according to NIAH---in 1880's . Terraceview So I think taken around 1880/85 when it was brand spanking new.! Gullgle

25" OSI map showing the observatory with the same path layout. No civil engineering building/physics and chemistry labs. Carrigside Terrace is there, but there is an empty space where Elder Wood should be.

The observatory has a wikipedia entry as well: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawford_Observatory About the sponsor, William Horatio Crawford (1815 - 1888) s. library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections/view/1160/william...

... and the wiki links to this Quite Interesting article - www.astronomytrail.ie/crawford/history/

Something very interesting! Rescue of Historical Ship Logbooks Clement Wragge (1892 – 1903) • Clement Wragge, known for his "mop of flaming red hair and explosive temper to match”, was the first person to produce weather forecasts in Australia. • 1887-1902: He was appointed Government Meteorologist in Queensland. • By 1893 Wragge had established 97 meteorological stations and 398 rain gauge stations throughout Queensland and in the Pacific region. • He was the first person to introduce the naming of storms and cyclones. His original idea was to name them after the names of ‘annoying’ politicians. • Wragge collected extracts of ship logbooks which have been archived at the National Archives in Brisbane. • I photographed more than 8,000 extracts which cover the period from 1892-1903 and most of them have been digitised as part of the Weather Detective project. Source: ensembles-eu.metoffice.gov.uk/C3S-DR/pages/workshop_mater...

Fascinating!
Looking west along Albert and Alfred Streets - 1858 interactive map - www.nla.gov.au/apps/cdview/?pi=nla.map-rm1272-sd&rgn=...

I think Thomas Baker is the landlord of the First & Last Hotel.

The photographer was on the steps of the Justice and Police Museum - GoogleMapsStreetView - goo.gl/maps/yZodJNcWi1M2

In 1859 Sydney Observatory (centre on skyline) had only just been completed - www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/theme,796,Sy...

I'm only 9 years late...but I think this must be quite an early photo. The license lists published in the newspapers indicate that Thomas Baker was licensee of the then named Clark's Hotel at the corner of Phillip and Albert Sts from ca. December 1854 to ca. September 1855...he was followed by John Thomas Baker (1855-57)...and then William McMillan (1858 - ca. 1863)...my guess is this pic was taken some time after Thomas Baker had moved on...and that his name remained on the wall in absentia so to speak...but even so, I don't think the pic can have been taken all that much later...

A stone store appears to have been built adjoining Clark's Hotel in ca. 1857-58 (the newspaper items indicate the excavations for the foundations began in 1857...but one later report suggests the store mightn't have actually been completed until 1863)...

The store appears with the roof and exterior completed in this photo from George Blackwood's 1858 panorama...so if the date given for Blackwood's panorama is correct, then it would appear that the external building work on the store was completed by 1858...