Ward Observatory

In the Astronomical Society’s heyday before and during WWI, Joseph Ward was Honorary Director of the Observatory and Charles Whitmore Babbage, grandson of Charles Babbage the President, Secretary, and Treasurer. At this time Ward and his assistant Thomas Allison catalogued over 200 double stars, 88 of which are still recognised as “Ward doubles”.

In 1926 the observatory was gifted by the Astronomical Society to the Wanganui City Council, debt free. After Joseph Ward’s death, his son William Herschel Ward was honorary director of the observatory from 1927 to 1959. Since 1984 the Ward Observatory and its telescope have had a Heritage New Zealand Category I rating.
Located in Cooks Gardens, access to the observatory is from St Hill Street. Public viewing is on Friday evenings after dark.

While you there, might as well have a stroll into Cooks Gardens Whanganui, a multi-purpose stadium in the heart of Whanganui city. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches, athletics,cycling, and hosting events and conferences. Cooks Gardens has been used as a sporting facility commenced in 1896. Since then Cooks Gardens has been the venue of a number of the world’s historic sporting occasions. One of these occasions was on 27 January 1962 when tens of thousands of spectators crammed into Cooks Gardens to witness athlete Peter Snell break the world record for the mile.