Celebrating 60 years of the Melbourne Planetarium - Australia’s oldest operating planetarium

Original GOTO Model M-1, opto-mechanical star projector, with an audience attending the Planetarium around 1970 (Credit: Museums Victoria).

A webinar from the Astronomical Society of Australia's History of Australian Astronomy Chapter (HAAC), in collaboration with the Australasian Planetarium Society. This event will be held on Wednesday 22 April 2026, 3.30pm – 4.30pm AEDT (UTC+10). It is open to members and non-members of the ASA and the Chapter and is free of charge.

It is essential to register to attend on-line, and/or to receive recordings after the event.

REGISTER HERE

Once you register you will receive a confirmation and a Zoom link will be provided the day before the workshop. All who register will receive information about how to download the recorded talks after the event.

Speakers:

Martin George (HIVE Planetarium, Ulverstone), Martin Bush (University of Melbourne) and Tanya Hill (Melbourne Planetarium, Museums Victoria)

Abstract:

The Melbourne Planetarium - Australia’s oldest operating planetarium – celebrated its 60^th birthday at the end of 2025. The present planetarium at Scienceworks continues the legacy of its predecessor, Melbourne’s H. V. McKay Planetarium, which opened on 2 December 1965, at a time when interest in astronomy and space exploration was rapidly taking off. Last year also marked the 100^th anniversary of the modern planetarium, with the first public planetarium session taking place at the Deutsches Museum, Munich on 7 May 1925. Join our planetarium experts, as they detail the development of the planetarium industry around the world and specifically within Australasia, the challenges of establishing the H. V. McKay Planetarium and the technological advances that underpin the Melbourne Planetarium today.