Thomas King Observatory

36A Salamanca Road, Kelburn, WELLINGTON

Quick links:

Thomas King Observatory in Wellington was built in 1912 by the Wellington Philosophical Society. Wellington, or Te Whanganui-a-Tara (‘the great harbour of Tara’) as it was known in te ao Māori, has a long history of Māori settlement, with many places named by the ancestor Kupe. Designed by Society member and Government Architect John Campbell, the Thomas King Observatory was located in the central city suburb of Kelburn, which was the epicentre of the city’s astronomical activity. Its official name was the King Edward VII Memorial Observatory but this name was not used and it became known as the Thomas King Observatory in memory of one of the founders after the Second World War. It has historical significance as a good representation of the contribution amateurs made to Aotearoa New Zealand science and astronomy, and for its association with high profile astronomers such as Thomas King, Charles Adams, Ivan Thomsen and Frank Bateson. In 1910 members of the Wellington Philosophical Society formed the Astronomical Section in order to build a public astronomical observatory, a facility the city was lacking. Public fundraising and a Government contribution elicited the necessary funds and it was built on what was then a military reserve adjacent to the Wellington Botanic Garden. The observatory’s first telescope was a 13cm Cooke refractor; this was replaced by astronomer Thomas King’s superior 14cm Grubb telescope following his death in 1916. The observatory was a utilitarian timber and fibrolite building consisting of an ante-room and an instrument room topped with a revolving dome clad in butyl rubber. The dome was made of rimu rafters and sarking and kauri bearers and included a telescope shutter that was opened by a rope pulley. The dome sat on metal rails and was revolved manually on wheels using a timber rod. The observatory was regularly opened to the public, though turnouts did not always meet expectations. Public viewing continued until the outbreak of the Second World War; after that the new Carter Observatory fulfilled this public function. In 1918 Government Astronomer Charles Adams initiated what became a long-running sunspot monitoring programme at the Thomas King Observatory and in the 1930s it was used by Ivan Thomsen, later the Carter Observatory director, and Frank Bateson, one of the Mt John Observatory founders. It was taken over by the Wellington Astronomical Society in 1974 and was the group’s astronomical headquarters until the early 1990s. Following restoration in 1995 the building was transferred to the Carter Observatory. It hosted public solar observations in the early 2000s. Thomas King’s telescope was put in storage in 2014 following a break in and its vandalism. The building is now used for temporarily exhibitions and public programmes organised by Space Place at Carter Observatory.

Thomas King Observatory, Wellington | Kerryn Pollock | 23/02/2021 | Heritage New Zealand
Thomas King Observatory, Wellington | Kerryn Pollock | 23/02/2021 | Heritage New Zealand
Thomas King Observatory, Wellington. Instrument room dome and shutter | Kerryn Pollock | 23/02/2021 | Heritage New Zealand

Location

Loading

List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Historic Place Category 2

Access

Private/No Public Access

List Number

9024

Date Entered

7th July 2021

Date of Effect

7th July 2021

City/District Council

Wellington City

Region

Wellington Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent includes part of the land described as Sec 1223 Town of Wellington and part of the land described as Sec 1231 Town of Wellington (NZ Gazette 1998, p.68), Wellington Land District and the building known as Thomas King Observatory thereon. (Refer to map in Appendix 1 of the List entry report for further information).

Legal description

Sec 1223 Town of Wellington and Sec 1231 Town of Wellington (NZ Gazette 1998, p.68), Wellington Land District.

Stay up to date with Heritage this month