Commonwealth Solar Observatory c. 1926, by William J. Mildenhall. Courtesy of the National Archives of AustraliaESTABLISHMENT (1900s -1938)
It is my earnest desire that we should take our place among the great observatories of the world.
W. G. Duffield, First Director of the Commonwealth Solar Observatory
A stop-go story, the Commonwealth Solar Observatory (CSO) was merely a twinkle in the eye of Dr. Walter Geoffrey Duffield in the mid-1900s.
Dr W. G. Duffield. Courtesy of ANU Archives
By 1909, Duffield had successfully persuaded the Australia Government to establish a new Australian observatory that would ‘fill a gap in the chain of astrophysical observatories round the earth’.
Careful consideration led to the selection of Mt. Stromlo in Canberra as the site for the new observatory, but World War I put a halt to progress. However, in 1924 – the founding year – Duffield was appointed its first Director and observation truly began.
The Commonwealth Solar Observatory begins to shine…
In his time as Director, Duffield supervised the construction of multiple buildings including the Director’s Residence and the extension of the Administration Building. Sadly, he would only spend five years on Mt. Stromlo – he died of influenza in 1929 and was buried on the mountain.
Dr Duffield's funeral procession on Mount Stromlo. Courtesy of the National Archives of Australia
His successor, William Rimmer, continued Duffield’s work for ten years while the search for a new Director was undertaken. During Rimmer's time as officer-in-charge, he oversaw the construction of a solar tower and installation of the Farnham telescope, which allowed groundbreaking research and led to the publication of the solar atlas by Clabon (Cla) Allen.
'Work on the sun telescope proceeded: by the end of 1929 the building was ready and certain parts of the instrument had been received. The remainder of the equipment was transported to Mount Stromlo and erected. By October 1931 the mechanical and electrical parts of the instrument had been tested, the optical parts fitted and the final adjustments made. A complete atlas of the solar spectrum over the region 3650 - 8000A was photographed by Dr. Allen using the 3-prism spectrograph and measurement of the intensity and contour of Fraunhofer lines in the solar spectrum was begun. This latter work was published in 1934 as Memoir No. 5.'
Report by Richard Woolley, 1950. Courtesy of ANU archives
Clabon Allen, known as Cla, looking at the heliostat which was used to undertake ground-breaking solar research. Courtesy of the ANU Archives
