Originally Posted by
43Inches
This in theory is correct, there was a weather station in Melbourne, it was properly equipped with devices of the day and thermometers were mounted in locations that provided consistent ambient readings. However that station shut down during 1851 and a new station in the same location not officially operating until 1858. So there are no reliable records from 1851 to 1858.
Again 1851 is an odd point to pick as it's just as the Iron pre-fabs were just starting to arrive in Melbourne. Houses made completely of Iron and shipped from the UK to Victoria for makeshift housing for the goldrush. The buildings were completely wrong for the Australian climate, but about 3 still exist today. I can't get an exact date of the first arrival, but there was around 100 existing by 1855. Corrugated iron was indeed new technology, but that was during the 1830s, by the 1850s it was being mass produced for pre-fab items and shipped to places like Australia, and had already been shipped to California by the late 1840s. So the idea of an iron veranda being a thing during the 1850s is quite plausible.
From memory my research showed there were three prefab houses in Melbourne in 1851. There is a lot of literature about Melbourne roofing of the period as a lot of houses burnt down back then because of the roofing materials used. Apart from being either brush, wood, or tiles many of the houses also had a very flammable insulation. I very much doubt, somebody of the period able to afford a thermometer, would be placing it under a hot tin roof. Thermometers of the period were a fairly expensive item and were generally bought by governments or ‘enthusiasts’ who would likely have understood the requirements relating to the readings given by the placement of a thermometer.
I would like to see your links to the claims made referring to the official Melbourne government met station…
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