[1] Melbourne Observatory is also permanently on the Australian National Heritage List under 'Melbourne's Domain Parkland and Memorial Precinct' since early 2018.

The observatory was tasked by the Victorian government with maintaining an accurate time reference for the colony through observations of stars using a transit telescope as well as general astronomical research.

In 1874 the observatory took part in the worldwide effort to observe the Transit of Venus in order to better determine the distance of Earth to the Sun.

Towards the end of the 1880s the observatory took part in the international "Carte du Ciel" project to map the heavens using the, then novel, technique of photography.

At the same time, the encroaching light pollution from the growing city of Melbourne gradually made quality astronomical observations increasingly difficult.