The first measurements of gravity in Australia

摘要

In his comprehensive history of geophysics in AustraliaDr A A Day (Day, 1966) first refers to gravity measurementsbeing made in Sydney by L. S. de Freycinet and his companyin 1819. They used pendulums1. Freycinet was, however,unable to compile his results for publication until 1826(de Freycinet, 1826).Day (1966) states they were the “first of four determinationsof gravity to be made there in a space of ten years” withoutgiving any more information. He then notes that whenSir Thomas Brisbane arrived at Port Jackson in 1821 to beGovernor of the Colony, he and his assistant, J. Dunlop, soonswung the Kater pendulum that Brisbane had brought fromLondon at the new observatory Brisbane had establishedat Parramatta2. As he had swung the Kater pendulumbefore leaving London, Brisbane was able to determinethe difference in gravity between London and Parramatta.The results were forwarded to Henry Kater in England whopublished them in 1823, three years before de Freycinetpublished his (Kater, 1823).