Telescope said to have belonged to William Lawson

SAFE/DR 21

fonds

between 1829 to 1857

877369

Copy print : DR 21
Available on open access in the Mitchell Library Reading Room

1 telescope - leather covered, brass - 51.8 cm. when closed, 96 cm open, diameter approx 3 cm.

A former owner of the telescope Mrs Ruby Icely, stated in a letter to Sir William Dixson (IN 1949) that the telescope was used by Lawson in his expedition across the Blue Mountains with Blaxland and Wentworth.

James Bassnett worked as a optician, mathematical instrument maker, watch and clockmaker and chronometer maker in Liverpool (8 Roberts St. Liverpool) from 1829-1857.

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales

Exhibited:
Men & Maps in America, April 1981
Bicentenary celebration, Dec 1975-Mar. 1978

The leather cover is inscribed `WL Jr.'
Inscribed in brass near the eyepiece `J. Bassnett, Liverpool'

Date estimated according to James Bassnett work in Liverpool, 1829-1857

Telescope was cleaned for the June 2010 for the Macquarie Exhibition

The Governor: Lachlan Macquarie, 1810 to 1821 - State Library of New South Wales (5 July - 10 October, 2010)
The Governor : Lachlan Macquarie, 1810 to 1821 (Travelling exhibition) - State Library of New South Wales (November, 2010 - March, 2012)