Rosaleen's Sundials

Wellington Sundial Trail 2010

2011-09-17T22:30:00.000+12:00

New Zealand^{1 & 2} according to CNN³ is now the second best tourist destination in the world, with Wellington (New Zealand's capital city), a 'great kind of springboard' to the rest of the country. Wellington is also (according to Lonely Planet⁴) one of the coolest little capitals in the world.

So, armed with that background, and a chance to participate in Sundials on the Internet⁵ and the British Sundial Society⁶ Sundial Trail competition, my friend Robyn Pearce, and I, Rosaleen Robertson, created The Wellington Sundials Trail.

A word for those who have never given sundials a second thought before now, whatever your interests: scientific, aesthetic, historical, keeping fit or discovery, our promise is that you will not be disappointed. You just need to give it a go.

A note of caution however, the pursuit of sundials has been known to be quite infectious and you too could find yourself a committed sundialophile⁷ like me. And with this in mind I've provided some tips (Appendix A, B and C are in a separate pdf file here), Appendix B provides details of the numbered references shown in superscript.

Click here to access the Wellington Sundail Trail http://www.sundials.co.uk/~wellington.htm

#2 Herb Garden Sundial, Wellington Botanic Garden, New Zealand

2008-05-10T16:59:00.022+12:00

In our capital city during the 1970s extremely popular evening classes on Herbs and the Use Of were conducted by Lorna Rowland. My friend Pauline and I attended these.

Being highly motivated to learn more about growing and cooking with herbs, we did not take any persuading to join the Wellington Herb Society. At this time the Herb Society was active in establishing an herb garden and gifting a sundial.

This was the first sundial I had anything to do with.

SOL EST LUXET GLORIA MUNDI

The sprig of rosemary adds a special touch. Rosemary, in the language of plants, is for rememberance hence the symbolism of its use on ANZAC Day, in rememberance of 'those fallen in battle'. There are a number of sundials throughout New Zealand that have been commissioned to commemorate bravery and the sacrifice of life at war.

Now to explain something about the structure and function of the sundial. The vertical part that stands up (perpendicular) from the sundial face is called the gnomon (pronounced noh-mon).

The gnomon casts the shadow that falls onto an hour mark from which the time is calculated. Gnomon is an ancient Greek word meaning: indicator, one that knows or discerns, that which reveals or shows.

The direction and angle of the gnomon are two of the essentials for 'time-telling accuracy'. The direction is marked by the symbol N as all sundials must be north facing for the shadow to fall accurately. Sundials are designed for either southern or northern hemisphere positions.

Sometimes the gnomon is referred to as the style, correctly speaking the style is the outer edge of the gnomon which casts the shadow. The shadow changes as the sun moves and the time may be read a follows: the west edge shadow in the morning and the east edge shadow in the afternoon.

If you look above you'll see from the shadow falling off the west side of the style, that I made an early morning visit to the Herb Garden in the Wellington Botanic Garden.

Sadly gnomon vandalism can be an issue.
Evidence of this may be seen in the photo above where the gnomon does not appear perfectly straight and in the photo below (taken 15 years ago) the gnomon is completely gone.

In a future postings I plan to:

share details of two genuine Kiwi do-it-yourself vandal deterrent strategies, one which is mechanical and the other spiritual
provide more information about the art and science of sundialling, or gnomonics, and
explain some traditions and practices

I hope you'll find this interesting.

So, back now to the Wellington Herb Garden sundial, does anyone have information about it? Who made it, details of the stone base and who installed it?

If you are interested in discovering more about Lorna Rowland and the Wellington Botanic Garden Herb Garden go to the Friends Newsletters: February 2002 and May 2002 by clicking: http://friendswbg.org.nz/newslettersabout.htm

#1 Cheviot School, Canterbury, New Zealand

2008-05-03T20:10:00.016+12:00

Fifteen years ago following the discovery of the Cheviot School

sundial a passion (or maybe an obsession!) was sparked.

Since then I have been enthusiastic about finding and recording sundials and meeting sundialophiles.

The motto on the beautifully engraved dial face is

LUX TUA VITA MEA.

A plaque on this elegant base showed it was presented by M.J. Read.

Two years ago all that remained was the concrete slab and four rocks.

I wonder what happened to this sundial?