Thomas Brisbane (1773-1860) was governor of New South Wales between 1822 and 1826. He took with him to Australia the contents of his private observatory at Largs, and this should have meant that southern hemisphere astronomy should have begun on a firm basis. However, this was not to be the case. After Brisbane's recall to the United Kingdom, he set up two further observatories, one astronomical and one meteorological, and in due course became a patron of scientific endeavour through his position as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1833. After his death, possibly because his children predeceased him and his estates were sold up, his work was rapidly forgotten. This talk will examine Brisbane's role in astronomical and meteorological science, and assess whether his work deserves the oblivion to which it appears to have been consigned.