Melbourne telescope. View of the Melbourne Telescope, one of the earliest large telescopes in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Melbourne Observatory, Australia, in 1887. Built in 1868, this telescope was the result of an 1849 plan for a Southern Hemisphere telescope. It was designed and built by Grubb in Dublin, Ireland, and focused light using a mirror 1.2 metres across. However it was a failure when initially installed in Australia. It was over-sensitive to vibrations and the mirror was ruined when the protective coating used during shipment was removed. In 1945, when the Melbourne Observatory was closed, the telescope was sold to Mount Stromlo Observatory.