| Theodore
Frederick Wiesener died at his home, ‘Rostella’, in Grosvenor Crescent,
Summer Hill, on 1 June 1897 in his early 50s. He left an estate valued at
nearly £11,000. Wiesener had clearly been successful in establishing a
comfortable middle-class life for himself and his family. Who was he and
what was the course of his life? As yet relatively little information has
been gleaned, but an outline of his career can be constructed and some
assessment of his place in Australian history made.
Theodore Frederick Wiesener was born in Goslar, Hanover, in the north of Germany, about 1845. His father, also Theodore, was possibly a merchant or tradesman. His family must have been in a position to give him a sound education. Having completed his gymnasium studies, he was probably apprenticed at about the age of 14 to a craftsman. He then extended his knowledge by working with a number of firms. An article in The Bulletin in 1880 says "Mr. Wiesener learnt his business in such houses as Hunt and Roskell, of London, Breguet, of Paris, Fensohn, of Hamburg, and Ceraglia, of Rome". If these are the actual firms Wiesener worked for, then he was plainly ready to travel in order to learn the various branches of his intended business, clockmaking, jewellery and optical work. The firm established by Abraham-Louis Breguet in the 1780s made Paris a centre for precision watches. Having finished his apprenticeship in the mid 1860s and extended his skills by working for a number of firms, Wiesener was ready to set up in business for himself. What made him look to Australia for the right opportunity? German immigration to Australia in the nineteenth century was more significant than it now appears. Under the pressure of anti-German sentiment during the First World War, many people of German background changed their surnames. It is claimed that German speakers were the largest immigrant group in the nineteenth century after the Anglo-Celts. A few Germans feature prominently in Australian colonial history, such as the explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, and South Australia is known for its immigrant German population. In fact, Germans immigrated in significant numbers to all Australian colonies. A book extolling the merits of Van Diemen’s Land for would-be emigrants was published in Hamburg as early as 1823. Australia was a subject of considerable interest in Germany throughout the nineteenth century. This created a climate where people of skill and initiative could make informed decisions about emigrating, especially after the discovery of gold in mid century. The increasing numbers of Germans settling in Australia strengthened the channels of communication. Many of these Germans were involved in trading and manufacturing enterprises. Whatever his particular reasons for emigrating - an improved climate for the sake of his health may have been a factor as it was for many immigrants - young Theodore Frederick arrived in Sydney on the ship Winifred in 1871. Before long he set up as a watchmaker at 1 Hunter Street and by 1875 had moved to 348 George Street. This presumably provided both larger premises and a more prominent position. He was then living at 106 Phillip Street. As a jeweller and watchmaker also dealing in optical and fancy goods, Wiesener found a responsive market. Wiesener applied for naturalization on 16 February 1876. As character witnesses Henry Abbey and a Mr Erwin, both of George Street, affirmed that they had known the ‘memorialist’ since February 1873. The Certificate of Naturalisation was granted five days later and Wiesener swore his oath of allegiance on the 29th. The particular motive for his naturalization may have been his intention to marry, for that year he wedded Annie Abbey. In quick succession they had three children, Frederick Abbey in 1877, Evelyn in 1878 and William George in 1879. With his change in domestic circumstance, Wiesener and his growing family lived at ‘Ancona’ in Piper Street, Woollahra, and later in Victoria Road, Marrickville. An event which towered over the social and cultural life of Sydney in 1879 was the Sydney International Exhibition. International exhibitions had been show pieces of progress and industrial achievement since the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851. This had been widely imitated in Europe and the United States in the following decades. Intercolonial exhibitions had been held in Melbourne in 1866 and Sydney in 1870. By holding an international exhibition Sydney asserted its place in the world and gained the stimulus of art works and manufactures imported for the occasion. Sydneysiders watched as the exhibition building, known as the Garden Palace, was erected in the Government Domain behind the Stables (now Conservatorium of Music). The Exhibition ran from September 1879 to April 1880. Wiesener was not himself an exhibitor. Perhaps he set himself on a higher plane than those competing for awards. He erected clocks throughout the Garden Palace electrically connected with a standard clock in the eastern nave. His time carried the authority of the Exhibition Commissioners. The spread of railways in the nineteenth century drove the need to standardise timekeeping. Telegraphy enabled clocks to be electrically linked. Trains could run on a timetable based on standard time. People’s experience of time was changing. For many people visiting the Sydney International Exhibition, Wiesener’s electrically linked clocks were perhaps a novelty. Every hour the master clock sent out a pulse to keep the ‘slaves’ in step. Subsequently one of the Exhibition clocks was installed over the entrance to Wiesener’s shop. He was, metaphorically, the master of time, and had taken out a patent for his synchronised clocks. As The Bulletin reported in 1880,
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Wiesener’s shop in
1880 |
Due to renumbering, the shop
was now 334 George Street. Clocks and watches predominated in the window.
The most critical issue in timekeeping related to the rating of marine
chronometers. The maintenance of accurate time by ships’ chronometers was
essential for determining longitude and hence accurate and safe
navigation. Sydney Observatory maintained accurate time based on
astronomical observations and provided a daily time-ball signal. The
time-ball was (and is) a large ball on a pole which was dropped at one
o’clock precisely. This was visible across much of the Harbour for ship’s
officers to check their chronometers. In imitation of this, Wiesener
erected a small time-ball in the window over his entrance. ‘The hourly
time-ball rises automatically a few minutes to the hour, and is entirely
Mr. Wiesener’s design, and every part of the mechanism is manufactured on
the premises.’ The ball would then drop precisely on the hour. |
Wiesener
advertised himself as a "practical jeweller", but little is known of this.
He employed "several expert hands" in his workshop. This presumably
included at least one skilled jeweller. His contribution to Australian
jewellery, though, seems not to have made a great impression. The
principal modern reference works on Australian colonial jewellery give no
account of his work. Yet as the Bulletin reported in 1880:
Since the middle of the century a number of watchmakers, jewellers and opticians in Sydney had also been active in the importation and retailing of scientific instruments. With the spread of settlement, the development of roads and railways, and the construction of buildings and bridges, there was a continuing demand for surveying and drafting instruments. Wiesener gained a share of the market for scientific instruments by the 1880s.
Wiesener’s trade label for instrument sales, c. 1890 (Macleay Museum) The trade card he had printed to go inside the lid of instrument cases made a comprehensive claim: "Astronomical, Mathematical, Optical, SURVEYING, and Philosophical Instrument Maker". Clearly surveyors were the principal market. Troughton & Simms’ theodolites are specifically mentioned and Wiesener’s "new traversing head tripod" is particularly highlighted. The English firm of Troughton and Simms were leading makers of surveying instruments in the nineteenth century, the name would have epitomised quality to Wiesener’s potential customers. While it would not have been economical to produce precision instruments such as theodolites and levels in Sydney, ancillary apparatus, especially bulky items such as tripods, could be produced locally. Wiesener had patented his improved form of tripod in 1887. Wiesener also stocked instruments for more strictly scientific purposes, including microscopes. The Royal Society of New South Wales provided an opportunity for people of varying backgrounds - academics, technical employees of the government, keen amateurs and others - to get together to discuss scientific matters. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the Royal Society had a number of sections devoted to specific disciplines. One of the most active was the Microscopical Section. Wiesener became a member of the Royal Society in 1884 and "took a very warm interest in [its] affairs ... more especially in regard to the Microscopical Section, and was most regular in his attendance at its meetings". The Royal Society’s predecessor, the Philosophical Society of New South Wales had a short-lived Microscopical Subcommittee in the late 1850s at which some of the instrument retailers of the day were active in showing their latest goods. Wiesener followed this pattern. There was a growing interest in microscopy around the world in the 1880s. The discovery of disease-causing microorganisms by Pasteur, Koch and others, the rise of academic biology and the improvement of microscope optics led to increased demand. Microscopy had come of age and was being institutionalised. The rate of production of microscopes in Europe and the United States increased enormously in the 1880s. This also led to a significant increase in the numbers of amateur microscopists in many parts of the world including Australia. The Microscopical Section therefore provided a good opportunity for Wiesener to gauge the demand for new instruments and to supply that demand. Wiesener is first recorded at a Microscopical Section meeting in December 1884 when he "showed a collection of very choice slides by Wheeler of London". Amateur microscopists often made their own preparations for microscopical examination but also purchased fine preparations from commercial suppliers. (Wheeler retired in 1884 and sold his stock to W. Watson & Sons, an important firm of microscope manufacturers in London.) Wiesener does not appear in the proceedings for 1885 but may have regularly attended for he was elected to the committee in April 1886, the first meeting of the year. He exhibited "several students’ microscopes by London makers" at the June meeting and "two new Monocular microscopes by a London maker" in July. He became so immersed in things microscopical that at the October meeting he brought along "a partially finished Monocular microscope manufactured by the exhibitor". Regrettably, we hear no more of this instrument. The 1886 committee presumably continued for 1887 as there is no report of an election. Wiesener exhibited "a new form of natural-history microscope and cabinet, suitable for young peope" in November and "a small pocket microscope made by Anderson of London" in December. With Christmas approaching there were perhaps special opportunities for selling microscopes to entertain children and occupy amateur naturalists over the summer. Wiesener was not elected to the committee for 1888 and only exhibited at the October meeting - "five new models of microscopes made by Anderson of London". More interestingly he also exhibited "a 2½ inch objective made in his establishment, (being the first objective made in the colony,) and which he presented to the Society". He could never hope to compete with foreign manufacture but it was a measure of his enthusiasm and an assertion of his technical competence. In 1889 Wiesener exhibited at the August and September meetings. At the former he showed some microscope objectives and other apparatus by Reichert of Vienna. Among the accessories was a camera lucida for drawing objects seen through the microscope. The following month he exhibited two new microscopes by the London maker, Swift, "one being a binocular dissecting microscope fitted with the Stephenson prism". In June 1890, Wiesener exhibited "a highly finished microscope by Charles Reichert of Vienna, fitted with two stages, a plain and a mechanical one, the change from the one to the other being quickly and easily effected". The microscope was accompanied by a set of compensating eyepieces and a number of excellent objectives. Here we notice a shift. Although Wiesener was German by birth his stock of instruments was unequivocally English until this time. From the middle of the nineteenth century a number of firms in the German-speaking countries had been gaining an international reputation for the quality of their instruments. The firm set up by Carl Zeiss in the German university town of Jena in 1846 soon became a byword for quality scientific instruments, especially microscopes. Carl Reichert established his business in Vienna in 1876 and so may have been a relatively unfamiliar name to microscopists in Sydney in 1890. In October that year, F.B. Kyngdon, a long-standing member of the Committee, exhibited "some excellent homogeneous immersion lenses [objectives] by Reichert", and had previously exhibited Zeiss objectives in August 1882 - "remarkable for the great beauty of their performance" - and May 1883. Plainly British loyalties were giving way to foreign manufactures where quality was an issue. Wiesener was elected to the Committee of the Microscopical Section in 1891 and again in 1892, in the latter year exhibiting in August (photographic prints taken by Zeiss with an anastigmatic lens), October (Zeiss microscopes and high power objectives, together with Abbe’s apertometer and a Reichert student microscope), and November (a "first class microscope by Carl Zeiss ... together with a three-millimetre apochromatic homogeneous objective by the same maker, having a numerical aperture of 1.40"). Despite his evident interest in microscopes, this must have been a relatively minor part of Wiesener’s overall business. There is very little information available on his customers. An examination of government records may provide clues to his business dealings. University of Sydney archives indicate a number of transactions which may represent a combination of sales and servicing of instruments. One order from the University provides an insight into Wiesener’s working methods. John Shewan, assistant to Professor Anderson Stuart in the Medical School at the University commented on some kymographs supplied by Wiesener, perhaps in the 1880s or 1890s:
Shewan made an extensive series of autobiographical notes about 1930 which seem to be a catalogue of his discontents with the University. The kymograph was a clockwork-driven drum for recording physiological responses. He had presumably been responsible for producing or at least supervising the manufacture of the first lot within the University and was perhaps resentful at not having charge of the second. The incident does indicate that Wiesener would take on jobs which he could then have made by another firm. About 1883 the family moved from Marrickville to ‘Bonavista’ in Croydon Avenue, Ashfield, and then lived for some years at ‘Mia Mia’ in West Street, Petersham. In the early 1890s they had moved again to ‘Hillcrest’ in Stanmore Road, Petersham, and by 1895 were living at ‘Rostella’ in Grosvenor Crescent, Summer Hill. By September 1892 Wiesener may have suffered from health problems which caused him concern for the future of his young family, for he then made a Will. In this he gave detailed instructions for running his business in the event of his death. By the middle of 1896 heart problems became apparent. In the autumn of the following year he revised his Will and then took a trip to Tasmania in the hope of improving his health but towards the end of May his condition worsened. He died on 1 June 1897 and was buried at Rookwood Cemetery two days later. Prominent at the funeral were members of several Masonic Lodges and the Ashfield Bowling Club.
T.F. Wiesener, Catalogue of Scientific, Mathematical and Surveying Instruments, 1909, pp. 18 The firm of T.F. Wiesener was continued after his death. By the terms of his will, his elder son Frederick Abbey Wiesener was to have taken charge of the business on reaching the age of 25. It seems however that it was the younger son, William George, who eventually managed the business. It was he who patented an improved adjustable plumb bob in 1908. The firm continued in the name of T.F. Wiesener until 1918 when it was sold to Sidney Whatson who began the Precision Instrument Co. in 1920.
Patents T.F. Wiesener, Improved means or apparatus for synchronizing clocks or other timekeepers, and for transmitting seconds or other time or intermittent currents; 30 June 1880; no. 848 T.F. Wiesener, An improved tripod for theodolites, having a traversing head, supported by and upon legs which, when closed together, form a circular stem; 30 July 1887; no. 2,134
References T.F. Wiesener, Application for Naturalisation, 16 February 1876, Col. Sec. 76/1268 (State Archives) T.F. Wiesener, Certificate of Naturalisation, 21 February, 1876 (State Archives) T.F. Wiesener, Will, 1897, number 13847 (Supreme Court) Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 4 Jpne 1897, p. 5 Obituary, The Advertiser, 5 June 1897 ‘The Jeweller’s Art in Sydney’, The Bulletin, 11 September 1880, p. 14 Royal Society of N.S.W., Journal and Proceedings, 1884 - 1892 Henry Deane, ‘Anniversary Address’, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Vol. XXXII (1898), 1-54 [obituary note, p. 7] T.F. Wiesener [firm], Scientific, Mathematical and Surveying Instruments [catalogue], 1909, 41pp. Sands Sydney Directories | |
