All up, the entire trail is approximately 90 minutes to two hours, but do allow much longer as you will find Timaru attractive and the local people friendly.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
#4 Timaru Sundials Trail
All up, the entire trail is approximately 90 minutes to two hours, but do allow much longer as you will find Timaru attractive and the local people friendly.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
#3 Tauranga Sundial, New Zealand
My Father agreed to the project and between us a suitably aesthetic base design was identified from a loan out of the Alexandre Trunbal Library archive. Concrete was second nature as a construction material to my Dad, as some would say being a typical Kiwi-bloke, and he made a perfect replicata in three parts including leaving his sheep branding mark as the 'maker's mark' and date on the top.
There was no 'marker's mark' on the sundial, just the motto I count the sunny hours only We had no knoweldge of the history gnomon angle
In addtion to taking into account the sundial must be north facing and id is essential for it to be perfectly horisontal.
Wellington Sundial Trail 2010
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
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
Saturday, May 10, 2008
#2 Herb Garden Sundial, Wellington Botanic Garden, New Zealand
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 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
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Saturday, May 3, 2008
#1 Cheviot School, Canterbury, New Zealand
The motto on the beautifully engraved dial face is
A plaque on this elegant base showed it was presented by M.J. Read.