Sydney Time Ball

When the time ball was set up in 1858, it was dropped at noon. Shortly after it was decided to drop the ball at one. Photograph courtesy of Nick Lomb, Sydney Observatory. A complex system of clocks including a Short Free Pendulum Clock and a Charles Frodsham Mean Time Clock supplied the time to the time ball. On spotting the time ball falling the gunner fired the time gun.

Please click on the image to return to the menu.