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

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

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#1 Cheviot School, Canterbury, New Zealand

Thirty 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.

2010 all that remained was the concrete slab and four rocks.

I wondered what happened to this sundial and learned

      

 "The School Sundial has been re-located 

in front of the Cheviot Museum." 

 

LUX TUA VITA MEA: Thy light is my life.

 

https://www.sundials.co.nz/