During the late nineteenth century Rev. Andrew Murray from Wellington identified the need for a higher educational institution for girls in South Africa. While on holiday in their seaside cottage, "Patmos" in Kalk Bay (just beyond the present railway station) he was reading a copy of the larger life of Mary Lyon, founder of the Mount Holyoke Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA. He wrote to the principal (a copy of this letter is displayed in the Wellington museum today) asking for one teacher to start a similar school in Wellington, modeled on the pioneering work she did in the field of Christian education for girls in America. Soon afterwards an answer came back saying they can send TWO teachers and on Monday 19 January 1874 the "Huguenot Seminary for girls" opened with 40 borders in "White House" and 14 in the village, with Miss (later Dr.) Abbie Park Ferguson and Miss (later Dr.) Anna E. Bliss at the reins.
Miss Ferguson was always interested in astronomy with "a knowledge of a keen amateur, quite sufficient to infect others with her enthusiasm, and to give them the knowledge they needed to read books intelligently". She soon offered an Astronomy class at the Seminary and being a personal friend of Dr. (later Sir) David Gill, Astronomer Royal at the Cape, he would often visit Wellington and address the class.
The year 1882 was special in astronomical terms for two reasons. First the "Great Comet of 1882" appeared and became bright enough to be seen in daytime. In photographing this, Gill realised the potential of photography in astronomy and thus started a whole new era of observational astronomy. This was also the last time until the year 2004 that a transit of the planet Venus across the Sun's disk would occur. Only the two inner planets, Mercury and Venus can show this phenomenon when they move in between the Earth and the Sun. In contrast to Mercury where transits happen at a rate of 13 to 14 per century, transits of Venus are very rare. They currently happen in pairs, 8 years apart which then only repeats after more than a century. Previous transit pairs were in 1761 & 1769 and 1874 & 1882 - it was with the 1769 transit when Captain Cook and astronomers on board who observed the transit from Tahiti. The next transit pair happens again in 2004 & 2012. Kepler could as early as 1609 already, determine a very accurate scale model of the Solar system by using his laws, but only after (at least) one distance was accurately measured could all the others be equally accurately deduced. One of these direct methods of determining the distance between the Earth and Sun is to observe the transit of Venus simultaneously from different places on the globe.
During 1882 a telescope was given to the school as a gift from Mount Holyoke and under Gill's supervision was erected in an observatory on the grounds of the Seminary just in time for the Transit of Venus which occurred on December 6, 1882.
When the American scientific party lead by Prof. Simon Newcomb of the US Naval Observatory was looking for a site in South Africa to observe this event from, he heard about the American connection of the Seminary. By arrangement with the trustees, he decided to use their grounds to set up his equipment for the transit observations. He encouraged the teachers and students to actively take part in the observations who eventually observed the transit through their own telescope. Today the names of Miss ME Cummings, Miss AP Ferguson and Miss JN Brown can still be found listed amongst those of the professionals where they are each credited with an observation. The book "Builders of Huguenot" by Geo. P. Ferguson (Maskew Miller, 1927) even claims that the amateurs made better observations than the professionals. Prof. Newcomb's reply was that it was partly the result of good fortune, and partly due to the quickening of the faculties which comes with intense interest, but the ladies took it as a tribute to the greater powers of their own sex.
The happenings are probably best told by one of the observers herself. In a letter by Mary Elizabeth Cummings (Class of 1876 (Holyoke) and a teacher at Huguenot from 1877-1887) to her classmates written on December 22, 1882 she wrote:
"I must tell you of our telescope before I close. Some of you perhaps know that it is the one through which we had a few peeps when pupils of Mt. Holyoke. When it was no longer needed there, Mr. Williston kindly presented it to the So. African daughter of Mt. Holyoke. An observatory was erected for it in our garden, and the telescope was mounted under the direction of Dr. Gill, the Astronomer Royal, from Cape Town. It was scarcely in order when the "Transit of Venus Expedition," from the United States, arrived in Cape Town, and soon after decided upon Wellington as the best astronomical station for their purpose. Our garden was selected as the best site, all things considered, and four buildings were erected. Prof. Newcomb, the Chief of the Expedition, instructed the pupils in Miss Ferguson's astronomy class and several of us teachers, in the art of reading time quickly on the chronometer, and several of us were invited to share the practice of the astronomers, in observing an artificial transit of Venus, by means of an apparatus invented by one of the party. The actual transit took place the day before our anniversary and in the midst of the examinations and hurry of anniversary week, and to several of us teachers was the most important event, as it had been arranged that we should observe it through our own telescope, which was in excellent condition and gave a splendid view of all that could be seen."
In comparison with the (relatively ill observed) 1874 transit, very little of the 1882 observations were ever published. Prof. Newcomb was put in charge of reducing the observations but had a most frustrating time accomplishing this with the Treasury Department who kept re-allocating his funds. When he wrote his autobiography "The Reminiscences of an Astronomer" in 1903, thinking in nostalgia back to the transit 20 years earlier, he wrote:
"On our departure we left two iron pillars, on which our apparatus for photographing the sun was mounted, firmly embedded in the ground, as we had used them. Whether they will remain there until the transit of 2004, I do not know, but cannot help entertaining a sentimental wish that, when the time of that transit arrives, the phenomenon will be observed from the same station, and the pillars be found in such a condition that they can again be used."
Today the Huguenot Seminary has grown into two institutions namely "The Huguenot College" (where Social Workers and Missionaries are trained) and the "Boland Teachers Training College". The names of several buildings still reminds of the school's origins - Mary Lyon Hall, Ferguson Hall as well as residences called after Miss. Bliss and Cummings and a guest house called "Holyoke" are nearly all declared National Monuments today.
Unfortunately Prof. Newcomb's wish cannot be fully fulfilled because as early as 1936 the iron piers have already disappeared. In the March 1937 issue of the "South African Journal of Science", H.E. Wood (Union Observatory, Johannesburg) wrote:
"Unfortunately the iron pillars left behind by Newcomb have not remained undisturbed. Their existence has been forgotten and the piers have disappeared. Upon enquiries being made in April 1936, it was found that one of the garden boys remembered the position where one of the pillars had been and, on excavating, a foundation was found. At this spot an iron post has been erected to mark the site at which Newcomb's observations were made".
Ironically, in this article Wood pleads for the retention of these relics for their historical value. The observing site of the British expedition to Touwsrivier was declared a National Monument in 1938 - one year later - but the Wellington one was not! Unfortunately this post have also since disappeared.
I have a strong suspicion that the foundation found by Wood in 1936 still exists in the back garden of "Huis Murray" today. I am currently trying to find the positions of Newcomb's and Ferguson's telescope sites with the view of putting up a permanent commemorative notice and possibly observing the 2004 transit from the same position, fulfilling Newcomb's dream. Anyone with any information on these ... please contact me.
Last update : 17 April 1998