Observatory Transit Stones

The Transit Stones supported the transit telescope used as a meridian mark for explorer Thomas Mitchell’s first trigonometric survey of Australia in 1828.

Parramatta Observatory was the first site of the extensive cataloguing of southern skies in the European astronomical scientific tradition. It was built in 1822 and included transit stones – which originally supported a transit telescope – as the meridian mark for explorer Thomas Mitchell’s first trigonometric survey of Australia in 1828.

The observatory building fell into ruin and was demolished in 1848, with only the transit stones remaining. The adjacent stone obelisk, placed in 1880, indicates the position of the transit telescope, although its true location is a subject of debate.

You’ll find the obelisk and transit stones between Railway Parade and Governor Macquarie’s Carriage Drive.