Time Ball Tower, Lyttelton.

Scarce c.19th hand coloured engraving of Ball Tower, Lyttelton, New Zealand.

A time ball is a large painted wooden or metal ball that drops at a predetermined time, principally to enable sailors to check their marine chronometers from their boats offshore. The Port Lyttelton timeball started signaling Greenwich mean time to ships in the harbor beginning in 1876.

From the original edition of The Illustrated Sydney News.

References:
Gibbs & Shallard. Illustrated Sydney News : ISSN 2203-5397.

Collections:
State Library New South Wales: F8/39-40
State Library Victoria: PCINF SLVIC=1853-1872
National Library Australia: Bib ID 440095