Photographer Don Stephens worked for the Hobart newspaper The Mercury for more than thirty years. His choice of camera was a Mamiya RB6×7.

Don’s images of the devastating Hobart bushfires were published in The Mercury, 7-9 February 1967. Many are held in the National Library of Australia’s collections.

Another tragedy in the Hobart area which cost lives was the collision of the bulk ore carrier, the Lake Illawarra into the Tasman Bridge on January 5th, 1975. Don Stephens took this photograph at night as the rescue operation continued:

Image copyright 2006 © Don Stephens & Leatherwood Online

These are some of the Australia Department of Defence photographs of salvage operations in 1975:

NAVY REPORT: Bridging troubled waters by Brett Mitchell

On the evening of January 5, 1975 the Australian National Line bulk carrier MV Lake Illawarra, laden with a cargo of zinc concentrate, collided with the Tasman Bridge, which spanned the Derwent River in Hobart.

The ship sank, killing seven of the crew, and collapsing two pylons and 127 metres of bridge decking into water 110 feet deep.

Four motor vehicles fell into the river, killing five occupants.

At 4.30am on January 6, a 14-man detachment from Australian Clearance Diving Team Two (AUSCDTTWO), commanded by LEUT Alexander Donald, flew to Hobart for search and recovery operations.

Following preliminary dives later that day, AUSCDTTWO was tasked to locate and assist Hobart Water Police recover the motor vehicles.

Two additional divers from AUSCDTONE arrived from Sydney, with a one-person recompression chamber.

Two vehicles were identified on January 7; one was salvaged that day and the second three days later.

Another vehicle was found buried under rubble on January 8. Three team members assisted Tasmanian Police divers comprehensively survey the wreck of the Lake Illawarra between January 9–13.

Operations ceased on January 16.

The Navy divers operated in hazardous conditions with minimal visibility and strong river currents. Divers had to contend with bridge debris consisting of shattered concrete, reinforced steel rods, railings, pipes, lights, wire and power cables.

Strong winds on the third day brought down debris from the bridge above, and caused unguarded ‘live’ power cables to fall into the water, endangering the divers.

Understandably, LEUT Donald described the conditions as “appalling”.

The breakage of an important arterial link isolated the residents in Hobart’s eastern suburbs the relatively short drive across the Tasman Bridge to the city suddenly became a 50 kilometre journey around the bay.

Although ferries provided a service across the Derwent River, it was not until December 1975 that a single lane combat bridge was opened to traffic, thereby restoring some connectivity.

Reconstruction of the Tasman Bridge commenced in October 1975 and the bridge officially reopened on October 8, 1977. The wreck of the Lake Illawarra remains where it sank in 1975.

Recent images of the wreck of the Lake Illawarra were captured by the Royal Australian Navy’s Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Forces and the United States Navy Mobile Diving Salvage Unit using specialised sonar equipment and head-mounted cameras during a survey exercise as part of training activity Dugong 09. Details appeared in this article from The Mercury November 1, 2009:

Lake Illawarra revealed

Photographer: Department of Defence

Source: The Mercury online

DANIELLE McKAY

November 01, 2009 08:00am

NAVY divers have taken the closest look yet at the ship which slammed into the Tasman Bridge and sank 34 years ago.

LYING at the bottom of the River Derwent, the MV Lake Illawarra has the aura of a well-preserved ghost ship, say its most recent visitors.

The murky waters make it difficult to see the vessel until you get up close, say navy divers who visited the infamous wreck next to the Tasman Bridge last week.

It is more than 34 years since the vessel smashed into the bridge in 1975, killing 12 people and severing the link between Hobart’s eastern and western shores.

In eerie silence and limited visibility, the Royal Australian Navy’s Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Forces and the United States Navy Mobile Diving Salvage Unit One have captured the most extensive survey of the wreck yet.

Using specialised sonar equipment and head-mounted cameras, 30 divers collected the data over eight days and more than 160 individual dives during a survey exercise as part of training activity Dugong 09.

Visibility was a metre, temperatures below 7C and divers went down to 36m.

“There was something very eerie about the silence,” said navy diver Able Seaman Joshua Manning, 26, from Sydney.

“We were focused on the task while we were down there, but there was also time to think about the tragedy and death, which was really surreal.”

A regular flow of fresh water has kept the bulk ore carrier remarkably preserved, the divers say.

Cargo doors remain open, in anticipation of unloading, but now they are inches out of line from the enormous jolt the ship suffered when it hit pylon 18 of the bridge.

But the bridge and wheelhouse are almost intact.

“We went inside the wheelhouse, about 4m in, it’s amazing.” Able Seaman Manning said. “It’s just pristine — as it would have been at the time I imagine.”

However, the bow’s port-side is a mangled wreck of steel and rotting wood, crushed under the weight of several columns of concrete.

The divers discovered the rear bumper of a car resting poignantly on the bow.

Clearance Diving Team One commanding officer Lieutenant-Commander Chris White, from Launceston, said the survey was a challenge for his team and a chance to return something to Tasmania.

WATCH VIDEO at Blogger site:

Caption: Navy divers take a look at the Lake Illawarra, which brought down the Tasman Bridge in 1975.

Video and photos courtesy Australian Department of Defence 2009

FV Taruman in foreground below being escorted by Oceanic Viking Sep 2005 AFMA

Caption: This is the Oceanic Viking arresting illegal Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fishermen and excorting the ship back to Hobart.

Australian Government
Australian Customs and Border Protection Services
[pdf] Information about the Oceanic Viking

The Australian Government takes the protection of its sovereign territories and assets very seriously. Illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Southern Ocean presents a
threat to Australia’s Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI)
and Macquarie Island exclusive economic zones (EEZ), its
valuable Patagonian toothfish fishery and the fragile Southern
Ocean environment.

The remoteness of the HIMI and hostile Southern Ocean sub-
Antarctic waters makes the detection and apprehension of
vessels carrying out IUU fishing even more challenging.
Illegal activity in the Southern Ocean is being fuelled by rising
fish prices, over fishing elsewhere in the world and excess fishing
capacity in northern hemisphere fishing fleets. There is concern
that, if left unchecked, such fishing could eventually lead to the commercial extinction of stocks of the Patagonian toothfish.
In response to this, the Australian Government, through the
Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, the Australian
Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and the Australian
Defence Force, has provided surveillance and apprehension of
vessels operating illegally in this remote region. This has included
on-the-water cooperation with other countries with similar Southern Ocean interests, in particular France who share an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundaries with Australia.
The Southern Ocean Maritime Patrol and Response (SOMPR)
program provides a dedicated vessel, Oceanic Viking, which
is able to conduct year-round patrols in sub-Antarctic weather
conditions.

About the Oceanic Viking
Oceanic Viking is the Australian Customs and Border Protection
Service and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority
(fisheries) Southern Ocean patrol vessel.
The vessel is contracted from P&O to conduct year-round patrols
as part of the Southern Ocean patrol program.
The Oceanic Viking undertakes a minimum of 200 days in the
Southern Ocean per year and can conduct up to 300
days per year.

These patrols are part of Australia’s commitment to intercepting
vessels and apprehending people suspected of illegally fishing
in the ecologically fragile sub-Antarctic waters.
When not operating in the Southern Ocean, Oceanic Viking is
available to patrol Australia’s coastline.

Specifications
Length: 105 metres
Beam: 22 metres
Gross tonnage: 9075
Range: 15,900 nautical miles at 16 knots with 10 per
cent reserve
33,800 nautical miles at 12 knots with 10 per cent reserve
Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBS)
Two 9.2 metre Norsafe SOLAS approved
RHIBS powered by
twin 233hp diesel jet propulsion in 6 tonne davits, with a
range of approximately 60 nautical miles at 20 knots.

Accommodation
The vessel is licensed to carry 75 people.
Without a steaming party on board, there are 19 P&O crew and
56 people from Customs and Border Protection & other agencies.
With a steaming party on board, there are 25 P&O crew and 50
people from Customs and Border Protection & other agencies.

Equipment and facilities
• an emergency care and
resuscitation room staffed by an
Australian Antarctic Division doctor
• facilities to accommodate illegal foreign fishers
• operations room equipped
with secure communications
• a Forward Looking Infra-Red camera
• a TerraScan system used to predict weather conditions
• other classified systems.

February 2009
Weapons and Personal Defence Equipment (PDE)
• two .50 calibre machine guns deck mounted
• Glock pistols for Customs and Border Protection Boarding
Party officers
• other PDE equipment is also on board.

Customs and Border Protection Marine and Aviation
Unit personnel
The Customs and Border Protection Marine and Avaiation
Unit within the Maritime Operations Support Branch in Customs and
Border Protection provides personnel and logistic support to civil
vessels chartered by Customs and Border Protection to combat
illegal foreign fishing in Australia’s northern and southern waters.
All armed Customs and Border Protection Marine and Avaiation Unit boarding party personnel are required to satisfy and maintain mandatory security, medical, dental, fitness and psychometric standards as part of their conditions of employment.

Customs and Border Protection Marine and Avaiation Unit
personnel are trained in use of force, ship search and undertake
armed boardings at sea. Some staff also have specialised
hospital theatre assistant training. Officers performing the
role of tender coxswains must have the appropriate
marine qualifications.
Officers operating in the region undergo
extensive training in:
• cold climate survival and safety at sea
• use of force, including side-arms and deck-mounted
weapons
• vessel familiarisation
• medical training
• operational command
• Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and
Fisheries legislative provisions
• tactical boarding operations
• ship search techniques.

Southern Ocean Maritime Patrol and Response
Program Outputs
To detect, deter and apprehend illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing vessels in Australia’s EEZ. This includes:
• operating a marine vessel with deck-mounted weapons in the
Southern Ocean EEZ
• undertaking marine patrols for a minimum of 200 days in the
Southern Ocean.

Delivery of other services in the Southern Ocean and Northern
waters as directed by Government.
These services include:
• j oint operations with France
• medical evacuations
• environmental checks of the HIMI for the Australian
Antarctic Division
• buoy deployment for the Bureau of Meteorology
• ad hoc engagements for the Australian Government.

Southern Ocean Maritime Patrol and Response
Program Outcomes
The desired outcomes of the SOMPR program are the protection
of:
• Patagonian toothfish fisheries around the HIMI EEZ from IUU
fishing
• Australia’s Southern Ocean waters
• the fragile Southern
Ocean environment
• the Northern Australian coast line
• other Government responses such as environmental and
security requirements.
Southern Ocean conditions
Missions to the region are challenging. Severe
weather conditions can include Force 12 gales and seas of more than 10
metres.
Average temperatures are minus two.

More information
For information on any Customs and Border Protection matters, contact Customs and Border Protection Information and Support Centre on 1300 363 263 or email information@customs.gov.au or browse the website http://www.customs.gov.au/

TV Snapshot ABC TV 1

Indonesia rules out forcing asylum seekers off Oceanic Viking

Source: ABC Radio National PM program

Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes)
Alternate WMA version MP3 download

The Director of Diplomatic Security with the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Department says Indonesia won’t allow the forcible removal of asylum seekers from the Oceanic Viking while it’s in Indonesian waters. And Dr Sujatmiko says even if they’re forced off the ship outside Indonesian waters, they wouldn’t be welcome on an Indonesian ship.

MARK COLVIN: Indonesia has ruled out the forcible removal of asylum seekers from the Oceanic Viking while it’s in Indonesian waters.And the director of diplomatic security with the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Department says that even if the asylum seekers were removed from the ship outside Indonesian waters, they wouldn’t be welcomed on an Indonesian ship. Dr Sujatmiko said the asylum seekers would be resupplied with food and water, supplies which are expected to run out by Sunday.Dr Sujatmiko spoke with Indonesian correspondent Geoff Thompson.

DR SUJATMIKO: I went there only once yesterday and I believe that they’re living in good conditions. The ship is, I think for me, it is luxurious ship, hospital also there, doctors are there, food enough and I thought they enjoy living there, so that’s why they rejected to go to the land.

GEOFF THOMPSON: And there have been some messages they’ve thrown from the ship saying that they might self harm or commit suicide, hurt themselves if they were… if an attempt was made to remove them from the ship. Have you had any indication of that sort of thing?

DR SUJATMIKO: Well, we have not been thinking of forcing them to go to the land, because it should be voluntarily disembarking from the ship.

GEOFF THOMPSON: But if they’re receiving adequate food and water, they could stay on the ship indefinitely couldn’t they?
DR SUJATMIKO: I… that’s not… I think you better ask the master of the ship. I believe so.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Is Indonesia prepared to allow the Oceanic Viking to stay off its coast with these people on board indefinitely?

DR SUJATMIKO: We are not discussing this issue but at least we are trying the first time we are giving permission for the ships to enter Indonesian water, based on humanitarian grounds. I think this is very important one. And secondly I think what we need to send the message is that we are the country which it is not easy for any people to come inside the country, because there’s an international syndicate playing around for this game.

GEOFF THOMPSON: So that would mean the people who are on the ship you don’t want them forcibly removed and for now it’s really a waiting game just hoping that they will agree to leave voluntarily?

DR SUJATMIKO: We are not thinking of that. I mean if really they are going to force the people it’s up to Australian authorities, as long as they are not doing it in Indonesian waters.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Okay so they will not be forced from the ship in Indonesian waters, so if Australia wants to remove them from the ship it must be done outside Indonesian waters.

DR SUJATMIKO: At least what I’m thinking as long as they are in Indonesian waters they should follow our rules and regulations. As I said yesterday if they are going to disembark there is some process that we need to follow.First the medical check-up, they reject it, secondly we need to have immigration interview, they also reject it, and they said that they are committed to continue going to Australia and they’re not ready to go to Indonesia.

GEOFF THOMPSON: What if the Australian Government wanted to bring in some military personnel for instance to assist in making the people leave the ship, would Indonesia agree to that?

DR SUJATMIKO: As long as this is in the international waters I think this is up to Australia.

GEOFF THOMPSON: But they would still have to be put onto an Australian ship in international waters, they wouldn’t be able to be moved in international waters from an Australian ship to an Indonesian ship?

DR SUJATMIKO: I think the most important point is if I mean in our perspective we are assisting the Australian Government first because we have good relations and secondly because we were told that some of them are women, children and we need medical treatment. For that reasons we are giving permission for the ship to enter the Indonesian waters.

GEOFF THOMPSON: So essentially I think you’re saying that the Australian authorities can do whatever they want with these people as long as it’s not in Indonesian waters?

DR SUJATMIKO: I think at the moment this is what I’m thinking of.

GEOFF THOMPSON: Is there a possibility then of moving them to an Indonesian ship in international waters?

DR SUJATMIKO: I’m not thinking of that option.

GEOFF THOMPSON: It seems doesn’t it that as long as they want to stay on the ship, the most likely solution, the only solution available may be perhaps for them to be eventually placed back in Australian territory?

DR SUJATMIKO: Well I think again they are in the Australian ships, this mean in the Australian territory, so this is on the Australian authority to respond.

MARK COLVIN: The Director of Diplomatic Security with the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Department Dr Sujatmiko speaking to our correspondent Geoff Thompson.

TO BE CONTINUED …

Source: The Australian News

EXPATRIATE biologist Elizabeth Blackburn has won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Hobart-born Elizabeth Blackburn has won the Nobel for physiology or medicine.

Professor Blackburn shares the Nobel with her former graduate student, Carol Greider, from Johns Hopkins University’s school of medicine, and Harvard’s Jack Szostak.

Her discovery of telomeres, caps on the ends of chromosomes which protect genetic information, has opened up new lines of inquiry into growth, ageing and disease. Her work with psychologists on telomeres, stress and meditation seems to prove a mind-body connection.

Dr Blackburn, 60, a Hobart-born graduate of Melbourne University who has worked in the US for many years, was one of the favourites for the Nobel for physiology or medicine.

Australia’s last two laureates, gastroenterologist Barry Marshall and pathologist Robin Warren, continued their tradition of sharing a beer in Perth around the time of the announcement.

Professor Marshall, from the University of Western Australia, famously swallowed a bacterium in solution to prove that most stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria, not stress or spicy food.

He and Dr Warren shared the Nobel for physiology or medicine in 2005. They began their beer ritual as a rueful comment on the long-standing unwillingness of the scientific community to embrace their theory.

Dr Blackburn has graced lists of Nobel favourites before, only to be passed over. She has won awards, such as the Lasker prize for medical research, which are seen as marking out a future Nobel laureate.

Last year she received the L’Oreal-UNESCO award for women in science.

Dr Blackburn, regarded as a mentor to women who juggle careers in science and the demands of family, told The Australian that the prospects for women in the life sciences were much improved since her time – “but only up until the end of the PhD, graduate training and postdoctoral research period.

“Then the number of women in science careers drops off, indicating that the career options for women are not as well matched for women as they are for men.”

She is Morris Herztein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. Her lab is seen as female-friendly, partly because of her role as a mentor but also because of its inter-disciplinary approach, which embraces fields well beyond basic biology.

In a 2007 interview with The New York Times Dr Blackburn said telomeres were “like the tips of shoelaces. If you lose the tips, the ends start fraying.

“In humans, the thing is that as we mature, our telomeres slowly wear down. So the question has always been: did that matter? Well, more and more, it seems like it matters.

“In my lab, were finding that psychological stress actually ages cells, which can be seen when you measure the wearing down of the tips of the chromosomes, those telomeres.”

Dr Blackburn was famously appointed, then removed, from president George W. Bush’s bioethics advisory council because she objected to ideology rather than science guiding its work, especially on embryonic stem cells.

Australians have now won 11 Nobels, all but one for science and medicine, the exception being Patrick White’s gong for literature.

Since 1901, there have been 754 male laureates and only 37 female, 23 of those straddling the literature and peace prizes. The club of female science laureates is a very exclusive one.

List of Australian Nobel prize winners

William Bragg – Physics (1915)
Lawrence Bragg – Physics (1915)
Howard Florey – Physiology or medicine (1945)
Sir Frank MacFarlane Burnet – Physiology or medicine (1960)
Sir John Carew Eccles – Physiology or medicine (1963)
Patrick White – Literature (1973)
Sir John Warcup Cornforth – Chemistry (1975)
Professor Peter Doherty – Physiology or medicine (1996)
Professor Barry Marshall – Physiology or medicine (2005)
Dr Robin Warren – Physiology or medicine (2005)
Professor Elizabeth Blackburn – Physiology or medicine (2009)

Visit the Nobel Site:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2009/

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009

Photo: Gerbil, Licensed by Attribution Share Alike 3.0	Photo: Gerbil, Licensed by Attribution Share Alike 3.0	Photo © Harvard Medical School
Elizabeth H. Blackburn	Carol W. Greider	Jack W. Szostak
1/3 of the prize	1/3 of the prize	1/3 of the prize
USA	USA	USA
University of California San Francisco, CA, USA	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA	Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute
b. 1948 (in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia)	b. 1961	b. 1952 (in London, United Kingdom)

Titles, data and places given above refer to the time of the award.

Alfred Winter was a Melbourne photographer who moved to Hobart Tasmania in 1869 and maintained a successful practice in studio portraiture and landscapes. On Sundays and holidays he travelled to beauty spots around Hobart with his apprentice Frank Miller, that is, until Miller came under suspicion of thieving from his master, and although arrested, the charge was dismissed for lack of evidence (The Mercury 19 October 1877).

Landscapes were Winter’s speciality. He gained a commission with the Hobart Municipal Council’s Land and Works Office in the mid-1870s, but he may have had a yearning to paint. In August 1874 he took the trouble to place on views his three oil paintings by British landscape artists in the reading room of the Public Library, housed upstairs in the Hobart Town Hall.

The first painting (below) by British landscape artist William Shayer was possibly the view mentioned in The Mercury article, 17 August 1874. The second painting is an example only of the other artist’s work, Henry G. Duguid.

WILLIAM SHAYER

Courtesy The Athenaeum
Cattle By A Stream
William Shayer Snr – No dates listed
Private collection
Painting – oil on canvas
Height: 60 cm (23.62 in.), Width: 51 cm (20.08 in.)

William Shayer Biography

The name of William Shayer has been linked with Morland, Ibbeston and Wheatley, all great English landscape painters of the 18th century. In his own right, Shayer is one of our first-class rural artists, with a delightful style and composition entirely his own, and completely free from imitation. He is at his best depicting the rural life of Hampshire and the New Forest; the countrymen and women going about their daily tasks, or resting in the shade of leafy boughs, faces shaded by big rustic hats; stopping at the inn on their return from market, or urging on teams of horses hauling timber.

His pictures express the great love and sympathy he had for the countryside and its people, and his wonderful sense of draughtsmanship and the perfect balance of his palette enabled him to reproduce the very spirit of what he observed – the translucence of reflected light, the sandy bank and filtered sunlight of the forest lanes.

Although he did not exhibit until well into his thirties, his work achieved considerable success and much praise from the art critics of his day. He did exhibit over two hundred paintings in his lifetime, and showed at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, the Society of British Artists and Suffolk Street. He sometimes painted with E C Williams, the one painting the landscape and the other painting the figures.

His paintings have always been highly sought after and today his work is valued for its accurate representation of rural life in the first three-quarters of the 19th century.

His works can be found in many galleries, museums and private collections throughout the world, including The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Montreal; Glasgow and Leicester

Selected Exhibitions 1825 – 1870
Shayer showed over 330 works at the Royal Society of British Artists and 80 at the British Institution.
He exhibited also at the Royal Academy and at the British Institution of London. His works have been displayed in museums in Glasgow, Leicester, London, Montreal, and Sunderland.

HENRY DUGUID

Courtesy Artnet
Henry G. Duguid
Linlithgow Palace and Chapel, from the south, looking toward the River Forth and Ochil Hill
Oil on Canvas
20 x 30.1 in. / 50.8 x 76.5 cm.
Signed, Inscribed
Sale Of Christie’s East: Wednesday, February 26, 1997
[Lot 291]
Old Master and 19th Century European Paintings

THE MERCURY, 17 AUGUST 1874

Alfred Winter’s exhibition of British landscape artists,
William Shayer and Henry Duguid at the Public Library.
The Mercury 17 August 1874.

TRANSCRIPT

PICTURES IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. - There are now on view in the reading room of the Public Library, three oil paintings, the property of Mr Alfred Winter, photographer, of Elizabeth-street, who has placed them there for the inspection of the public. The gem of the three is “Cattle drinking at the Stream” by W. Shayer. The others are larger, and as landscapes they unquestionably occupy a high place. They are both by the same artist. H. G. Duguid, the one being “Nidpath Castle, Peebles in the distance on the Tweed” and the other “Landing Place, Stirling, Anchel Hills and Cambuskenneth Abbey.” All the paintings have attracted much attention, and connoisseurs agree, we believe, as to their being very excellent works of art.

ALFRED WINTER PANORAMA

Courtesy State Library of Tasmania
Title: Photograph – Panorama of Hobart, in four conjoined parts, taken from the Glebe.
Alfred Winter photographer
Description: 1 photographic print
Format: Photograph
ADRI: NS2960-1-2
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania
Series: Panoramas of Hobart, 1856 – 1905 (NS2960)
Notes: Four panoramas of Hobart that were in the custody of the Hobart Bellringers and stored in the Bell Tower of the former Holy Trinity Anglican Church in North Hobart. It is believed that the photographs were acquired by the Bellringers around the time each of the photographs were taken. 1870

Alfred Biggs and his telephone prototype, 1870s

Images courtesy of Archives Office of Tasmania
Ref: Portrait – 30-2892c

BIOGRAPHY (Notes from ADB online)

Biggs, Alfred Barrett (1825 – 1900)

BIGGS, ALFRED BARRETT (1825-1900), teacher, bank officer, astronomer and inventor, was born on 10 April 1825 in London, eldest son of Abraham Biggs, carpenter, and his wife Eliza, née Coleman. In 1833 the family moved to Van Diemen’s Land. Abraham’s involvement in Methodism and eventually in the teaching profession was to have a strong influence on Alfred, who took up a tutoring position at Bothwell in 1845. Three years later he became a bank clerk in Hobart Town, but left for Melbourne in 1852, continuing in banking then returning to teaching. On 22 February 1855 at Melville Street Wesleyan Chapel, Hobart, Biggs married Harriet Burville. In 1858 he became headmaster of the Hoddle Street School, Melbourne. The family returned in 1864 to Tasmania, where Biggs again took a teaching post at Bothwell.

In 1872 they moved to Campbell Town. There he taught in the public school and befriended Dr William Valentine. Both men were fascinated by astronomy and in 1874 a rare astronomical event occurred: the transit of Venus. Valentine had invited an American expedition to view the transit from his home. Biggs assisted with the observations and the Americans gave him a building they had used in making their observations.

In 1877 Biggs learned of the invention of the telephone.

The Mercury 8 May 1877

He then constructed a pair of telephones and had them connected between Launceston and Campbell Town, successfully transmitting sounds between the two locations. It has been claimed that this was the first telephone connection in Australia. About 1879 he moved to Launceston and took a position as accountant and ledger-keeper with the Launceston Bank for Savings. His continuing interest in astronomy led to the construction of an observatory in the western part of the city. Despite the small size of his telescopes—his instruments were then a 2-inch (51-mm) and a 3-inch (76-mm) refractor—Biggs was a diligent and pedantic observer, becoming known as Launceston’s ‘Astronomer Royal’. He contributed reports to the local newspaper and from 1884 papers to the Royal Society of Tasmania, of which he was that year elected a fellow. He made observations and measurements of comets, double stars, eclipses and transits of Mercury and Venus (another transit of Venus occurred in 1882).

In 1885 he came into possession of an 8½ inch (216-mm) diameter reflecting telescope, originally owned by Valentine.

Biggs had a reputation as an inventor and instrument maker. He constructed a microscope—grinding the lenses himself—and both a vertical and a horizontal seismometer; his interest in seismology was likely to have been aroused by Launceston’s small earth tremors about 1880. Other devices he made included an observatory clock driven by a float and micrometers to measure angular separations, such as the apparent distance between double stars, through the telescope. For the detection of counterfeit coins he invented a coin tester.

His devotion to religious activities was lifelong. At St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Launceston, Biggs played the organ and conducted the choir; he composed at least three hymns. He saw no conflict between religion and science. When he was a teacher, he had some difficult times with the Board of Education. However, his thin, bearded face was suggestive of a man with a sense of humour. A frequent writer of letters to the press, he was a committee member and sometime president and treasurer of the Launceston Mechanics’ Institute. Predeceased by his wife, Biggs died on 19 December 1900 at his residence above the bank and was buried in the general cemetery. Six of his eight children survived him.

A 1935 memorial to Biggs stands in Royal Park, Launceston, near the former site of his observatory.

Select Bibliography
M. Giordano, Watcher of the Skies (Launc, Tas, 1995);
Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 1933;
Records of the Queen Victoria Museum Launceston, no 89, 1985;
Examiner (Launceston), 29 Sept 1886, p 2, 20 Dec 1900, p 7;
Biggs family papers (Archives Office of Tasmania);
private information.
Author: Martin George