Posted by Mike Field on October 28, 2007 at 12:26:53 from 203.129.42.196 user mikefield.
In Reply to: Time Ball, was Signal Stations posted by John Wilson on October 26, 2007 at 10:22:10:
From "Lighthouses of Victoria" --
The successful tenderer was James Linacre who built the bluestone lighthouse in 1849 at a cost of £925. With the tower there was also accompanying timber keepers' quarters. It commenced operations in 1849.
As this place was the first permanent settlement is Victoria all survey are measure from the tide gauge at Gellibrand's Point. In 1853, a Mr R. L. J. Ellery, the first Government Astronomer, commenced determining accurate local mean time, and established a time ball so that shipmasters to correct their chronometers "at the fall of the ball" at exactly one o'clock each day.
A time ball was a large copper sphere mounted around a mast.
First the flagstaff at the lighthouse was used to raise and lower the ball. It was later moved to the top of the new telegraph station nearby.
In 1854, ships captains had complained about the visibility of the time ball so the keeper at the lighthouse would darken the light at 2 minutes to 8pm then reignite the light at exactly 8pm to give the true time.
After the discontinuing of the bluestone tower as a lighthouse the time ball mechanism was moved to the top of the tower around 1860. It is definitely known to have been operating there in 1861.
Between 1987 and 1989, the brick extension [not shown here] was demolished and a functional new replica time ball mechanism was reinstalled restored by the Point Gellibrand Rotary Club to commemorate the history of the site. This was officially opened in 1990.
Under threat of subdivision and redevelopment the whole site was declared an historical site by the Premier, Steve Bracks, in 2000.
The tower today is operated by a computer, which drops [a ball] each day at 1pm as when it was in the 19th and early 20th centuries.