Sydney Observatory
Colonial-era observatory on a harbourside hill, its rooftop time ball still dropping daily as it has since eighteen fifty-eight.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Sydney Observatory follows the Reverend William Scott, Sydney's first government astronomer, who moved into this hillside building in 1858 with his job resting on split-second timing at his telescope. It traces the awkward problem he faced when the tower's new time ball first fell at exactly noon, the same instant he needed to be watching the sky through his lens. A ship's crew across the harbour once set its clocks by that same falling ball.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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