Guide to the Papers of Transit of Venus 1882 (as filmed by the AJCP)

50 Years an astronomer: notes and recollections by C. Grover. (55p.) (File 1)

Includes: his birth and early life at Chesham, Bucks; apprenticed to brush maker; interest in astronomy; Great Comet of 1861; purchasing telescopes; Hartwell; employed by Mr Browning adjusting telescopes for scientists; attended meetings of Royal Astronomical Society; interest in Transit of Venus in 1874; organisation of party to go to Queensland to observe Transit of Venus in 1882, Captain Morris, Lieutenant Darwin, Cuthbert Peek; Grover invited to go; sailing on Liguria from Tilbury 24 August 1882; taking observations on board; splendours of Southern sky; small pox at Cape Town prevents landing; Melbourne, 8 October, 'Little London of the Southern Hemisphere'; visit to the Observatory; the Great reflecting telescope; Sydney, 16 October; met Ramsay, curator of Australian Museum; 'he said the authorities were very liberal to the Museum'; the Public Library; Chinese in Sydney; Sydney Observatory; voyage to Brisbane on Katoomba; site of Jimbour chosen for observatory; railway journey '[Mr Peek] had ridden the whole way up on the buffer beam in front of the engine and said he never saw such magnificent scenery before'; Macalister Station in Darling Downs; transporting equipment by dray across Downs; description of Jimbour; erection of portable observatory; the party became great sensation and centre of attraction; Morris and Darwin erect their equipment; visited by Indigenous Australians; condition of local Indigenous Australians, 'they are fast dying out before the advancing white man and civilization'; buriel customs; cannibalism; Peek, Morris and Darwin visit Bunya Mountains; preparations for observing Transit; 6 December cloudy and 'morning of 7th not a glimpse of the sun or the Transit of Venus was visible…the day wound up with the heaviest thunderstorm I ever saw'; packing up for return journey; splendours of Jimbour; left 20 December; Brisbane; electric light turned on on 23 December; natives in town 'one man with a large brass plate suspended around his neck by a chain with the inscription 'King George and Queen Helena' presented by Jas Campbell'.

Notes of Australian Life. (11p.) (File 2)

Impressions of Australia - Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane; 'everything is English'; employment prospects; prices; problems with water supply in Brisbane; advice to migrants.

Sketchbook. (c60p., faint pencil) (File 3)

Includes sketches of: Madeira; St Vincent; Simon's Bay; Isle of Amsterdam; Hobson's Bay; Melbourne Observatory; Sydney Observatory; Brisbane Observatory; Jimbour, Queensland, 1 December; Thursday Island, 13 January 1883; Java; Aden; Suez Canal, 15 February 1883.

The Southern Cross: notes of a voyage to Australia with observations of Southern Stars. (63p., faint in places.), 1882 (File 1)

Includes: notes on southern observations; his desire to visit Australia; joining party of Captain Morris and Lieutenant Darwin to Queensland; boarding Liguria 24 August; Madeira; St Vincent; entertainments on board; Simons Town; gales; loss of seaman overboard; subscription raised to reward crew who attempted to rescue him; observations in Southern skies; Melbourne; Melbourne Observatory; the great telescope.

Photographs of party, (Peek seated on left with Charles Grover standing behind him) and the temporary observatory (File)

Photograph of Charles Grover in old age (File)

Postcard of Jimbour House (File)

Grover's second saloon ticket for voyage to Australia on Liguria, 15 August [1882] (File)

Cutting from Independent re sale at Christie's of 'gold medal set with rose diamonds presented to J.Scott Taylor, Second Officer of SS Liguria by First and Second Class Passengers in recognition of his bravery in attempting to rescue a shipmate on 25 September 1862' . (sic), 4 December 1987 (File)