The Perth Observatory's 6-inch* Troughton & Simms Meridian Reversible Transit Circle arrived in Australia in 1898 and was immediately put to work. Its first use was to set the State's latitude & longitude, as well as the State's standard time; from 1901 it was then used to create a standard star reference frame of 420 stars for the Perth Astrographic Catalogue covering the declination zone -32°S to -40°S. The Perth Observatory in Western Australia provided a crucial southern hemisphere astrometric observatory connection between the Eastern States (Sydney & Melbourne observatories) and Cape Town Observatory in South Africa. The telescope can still be seen in the foyer of the main building at the Perth Observatory in Bickley, Western Australia after being fully restored for the Observatory's centenary in 1996. *15cm Perth Observatory Meridian Transit Circle - Photo Perth Observatory Archives (Copy Government Printing Office D9925)

1926 Replacement of the NSW Government Astronomer   William Cooke in his office at Sydney Observatory soon after his appointment in 2012. Town and Country Journal , Wednesday 21 August 1912, p34. Colourised image.   William Ernest Cooke (1863–1947) had been the NSW Government Astronomer since 1912, when in 1925 the state government decided to close Sydney Observatory and abolish Cooke’s position. A new premier of NSW, the fiery Jack Lang (1876–1975), wanted to close the Observatory on the basis that, just as the Commonwealth had taken over weather forecasting, it should also be responsible for astronomical work. There were strong objections to this plan from the Observatory’s Board of Visitors and from the various scientific societies in the State.   The objections had an effect. The government decided to allow the Observatory to continue its work, but with a much reduced staff. Cooke still had to retire and he was replaced by the Superintendent of Technical Education, James Nangle, in an honorary capacity and taking no salary. A bitter Cooke’s last day at Sydney Observatory was 31 August 1926.   Further reading Nick Lomb (2023). Closing Encounters: The Efforts of the NSW Branch of the British Astronomical Association to Save Sydney Observatory. In: Gullberg, S., Robertson, P. (eds) Essays on Astronomical History and Heritage. Historical & Cultural Astronomy . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29493-8_28   Ian Tasker (2019). Power, politics and personalities in Australian astronomy: William Ernest Cooke and the triangulation of the Pacific by wireless time signals. Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage , Volume 22, Issue 1, 2019, Page 113 – 131. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2019.01.07   1976 The Melbourne Eclipse   The track of the 1976 total solar eclipse across south-east Australia. The red line is the centre line, while the purple lines are the northern and southern limits of the eclipse track. Drawing Nick Lomb, underlying map https://d-maps.com/   The eclipse track of the 23 October 1976 eclipse reached Australia at the coast of South Australia, near Millicent. It then crossed over Victoria and exited mainland Australia in NSW, near the south coast town of Merimbula.   Elaborate plans were drawn up by the authorities for the 2 minute 45 seconds of totality to be seen from Melbourne, then with a population of 2.8 million people. These mainly involved warnings to the public not to watch the eclipse directly, as it was too dangerous, and only watch on television. Posters on street corners screamed, “WARNING! SOLAR ECLIPSE TODAY’, with similar flyers inserted into newspapers on the day of the eclipse.   This was a major overreaction to protecting people’s eyesight. Part of the problem was that, as yet, there were no accepted safe filters for viewing the partial phases of the eclipse. Available filters were welding filters, smoked glass and exposed black and white photographic film. These were not fully trusted. Neither were the new aluminium-coated mylar filters being marketed by American astronomy retailer Roger Tuthill. These latter filters are now ubiquitous as solar filters, but back in 1976, there was no international standard for their use.   To the relief of the authorities, it was cloudy in Melbourne during the eclipse, preventing eye damage for the public. Similarly, it was cloudy at the NSW town of Bombala, where most professional and serious amateur astronomers had set up their observing equipment.   Further reading Nick Lomb and Toner Stevenson (2023) Eclipse Chasers , CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne

The Great Melbourne Telescope sketched in the Adelaide Post , 19 May 1868.   From many years from 1869 onwards, the City of Melbourne could boast of having the largest steerable telescope in the world. Known as the Great Melbourne Telescope, it was truly large with a total weight of 10 tonnes and a tube that was nine-metres long. The Irish telescope makers Thomas and Howard Grubb of Dublin, had built the huge telescope, under the supervision of a committee of eminent British astronomers. In Melbourne, it was placed in a building with a roll-off roof that was located some distance away from the other buildings of Melbourne Observatory, so that the mass of metal should not disturb readings by magnetic instruments.   The maker’s plate on the GMT. Photo Nick Lomb, cleaned up by Gemini.   The telescope had interchangeable metal mirrors, a 1.2 metre diameter primary mirror and an 0.25-metre diameter secondary mirror. There were two of each of these mirrors, as the metal mirrors tarnished easily and were hard to repolish. So, while one set of mirrors were in use in the telescope, the other set of mirrors were being repolished.   It should be noted that modern telescope mirrors are made of glass (or some low expansion equivalent) and then coated with a thin layer of aluminium. A similar technology with glass mirrors and silver coatings was already available when the GMT was built, but the committee supervising the building of the telescope did not want to risk the then new and little-tried technology on such a large mirror.   The surviving GMT mirror, collection of the Museum of Victoria. Photo Nick Lomb.   In Melbourne, the telescope achieved success with two short exposure photographs, one of the Moon and one in 1883 of the Great Nebula in Orion, which was the first photograph of a nebula in the southern sky. Unfortunately, the main observing aims of the telescope were flawed. These were to reobserve and sketch the nebulae that Sir John Herschel had observed from South Africa in the 1830s. However, sketches made by different observers with different telescopes cannot be directly compared and it would not have been possible to ascertain if the nebulae had shown changes in the intervening few decades.   The GMT House at Melbourne Observatory. Photo Nick Lomb   The GMT was rarely used after the 1880s, and in the 1940s sold for scrap to Mount Stromlo Observatory. There, the Observatory used parts of it for a 50-inch (1.3-metre) telescope, which itself went through a number of rebuilds over time. This telescope was destroyed in the Stromlo fire of 18 January 2003. Later, the burnt-out parts of the telescope were brought back to Melbourne. Since then, a team of dedicated volunteers from the Astronomical Society of Victoria, supported by Museum of Victoria staff, have been restoring the telescope. Engineering students have also been assisting with the restoration since 2019.   A future post will discuss Project Phoenix, the restoration of the telescope.   Acknowledgement Simon Brink, Project Manager, Great Melbourne Telescope Restoration, Strategic Capital Programs, Museums Victoria, for corrections.    Further Reading Richard Gillespie, The Great Melbourne Telescope , Museum Victoria 2011.

Perth Observatory 12.5-inch Calver – Perth Observatory Archives The purchase of the Perth Observatory's Calver 12.5-inch* Newtonian reflector, manufactured by George Calver & Co. England, was approved in 1910 by the WA Government with a view for use during Comet Halley [1] , and as the Observatory’s first dedicated visitor telescope; its estimated cost was to be £300. Unfortunately, it did not arrive in Western Australia until July 1911. Its installation was delayed not only by the WA Government Public Works Departments inability to deliver a concrete pad or building in time for Comet Halley, but also mechanical issues with the telescope itself. The problems with the telescope were conveyed to the instrument’s maker, George Calver (1834-1927), through numerous letters that still exist in the Perth Observatory archives [2] . The Government Astronomer, William Ernest Cooke, investigated the issues personally and discovered that the mount had been jolted in transit, affecting the adjustment of the lower bearing of the polar axis. Once resolved, Cooke reported this to Calver who replied on 23 April 1911: “ I am so thankful to get your letter of today, I am indeed pleased to hear it is in full swing and giving satisfaction. ” The telescope was later used in the 1922 Wallal total solar eclipse expedition, which famously provided key evidence supporting Einsteins Theory of Relativity that space was indeed curved; how it survived a beach landing in a long boat, as this was the only way to access the remote coastal site selected, one wonders. In 1975, the Calver was loaned to the Astronomical Society of Western Australia (ASWA), with permission from the Chief Secretary’s Department. In the 1990s, the Observatory requested its return for restoration, and the telescope was brought back in 1996 to mark the Observatory’s Centenary. Today, the Calver remains an active visitor telescope and can still be viewed and used during nighttime tours at the Perth Observatory in Bickley, Western Australia. [1]  Aspects of the History for the Perth Observatory, M.L. Clarke – Historical Note No. 5, Astronomical Society of Victoria, March 1987 p10. [2]  Perth Observatory Archives – File 07/23 – Instruments – Calver 12 ½" Telescope. *32cm

A recording of the 3-hour workshop is available to all via the Astronomical Society of Australia YouTube. Many thanks to those who attended, presented at, and organised the History of Australian Astronomy Chapter of the ASA annual workshop held on Wednesday 19 November 2025, 2pm to 5:15pm AEDT (UTC+11). Members of the ASA Communications Working Group (Vanessa Moss and Glen Rees) and our tech team (Brennan Dew, Dirk Goes and Toner Stevenson) helped us host and record the session in full. The program with abstracts and bios is available here:

Unless otherwise indicated the photographs on this website can be reproduced with acknowledgement of the photographer and source (where shown) and 'courtesy of the History of Australian Astronomy Chapter (HAAC)'. Sir Thomas Brisbane, then governor of NSW, established Parramatta Observatory in 1821. Initially, its astronomers observed star positions with a transit telescope that provided right ascensions and a mural circle that provided star declinations. A transit circle, an instrument that combined the functions of the earlier instruments, arrived in 1835. Made by Thomas Jones of London, it was placed asymmetrically between two piers. These piers, as shown, are the only extant remains of Parramatta Observatory. Photo Nick Lomb Sydney Observatory began operating in 1858, with the Reverend William Scott as the first government astronomer. It is located on Observatory Hill, which is the highest point in central Sydney. The location was chosen so that its time ball could be seen from as much of Sydney Harbour as possible. The observatory is now under the auspices of the Powerhouse Museum. Photo Nick Lomb Melbourne Observatory was established in 1863 under the supervision of Government Astronomer Robert L. J. Ellery. The observatory’s variety of instruments included the famous Great Melbourne Telescope. Two of its instruments were, and still are, in the two domes pictured. The left dome contains an 8-inch (20-cm) lens telescope by the London makers Troughton & Simms, while the other dome holds the Dallmeyer photoheliograph, an instrument designed to take photos of the Sun. Photo Nick Lomb The photoheliograph, an instrument designed to photograph the Sun, in a dome at Melbourne Observatory. London instrument maker, John Henry Dallmeyer made this and a number of similar instruments for the 1874 transit of Venus. One of the other photoheliographs went to Sydney Observatory. Although back in its original location, the photoheliograph is privately owned by a senior member of the amateur group, Astronomical Society of Victoria. Photo Nick Lomb Perth Observatory began operations in 1896 with William Ernest Cooke as its first government astronomer. It was situated on Mt Eliza that overlooks the city of Perth. In the 1960s it was demolished and the observatory transferred to Bickley, about 25 km east of Perth. The residence of the government astronomer remains, as shown. Photo Nick Lomb The dome of the Lowell telescope at Perth Observatory is raised nine metres above the ground. The elevation above the surrounding bush improves the telescope’s images by ensuring a smooth flow of air. The telescope was officially opened in 1971 and belongs to the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, USA. Among other research, astronomers using the telescope were the co-discovers of the rings around the planet Uranus in 1977. Photo Nick Lomb John Tebbutt (1834–1916) was a well-known amateur astronomer with an observatory at his home in the town of Windsor, just outside Sydney. He became internationally famous with his discoveries of the Great Comet of 1861, followed up with the discovery of another bright comet 20 years later. Tebbutt’s largest telescope was an 8-inch (20-cm) Grubb lens telescope. After Tebbutt’s death in 1916 the telescope had a number of locations, including over 40 years in New Zealand. It is now back in its original location, in the pictured dome. Photo Nick Lomb Ballarat observatory opened in 1886 as the first municipal observatory in Australia. Its largest telescope is a locally-built 26-inch (66-cm) Newtonian reflector. Shown is the Observatory’s Jelbart dome containing a 5-inch (13-cm) Cooke lens telescope. Photo Nick Lomb The main telescope at Mt Stromlo Observatory was a 74-inch (1.9-m) reflecting telescope. It was opened in 1955 and remained the largest in Australia until the Anglo-Australian telescope began operations in 1975. The telescope was housed in this dome but was unfortunately destroyed in the Stromlo fire of 2003. Photo Nick Lomb The Carnegie image-tube spectrograph at the Cassegrain focus of the Mount Stromlo 74-inch (1.9-m) reflector in 1968. Below is the lifting mechanism that allowed observers to operate instruments at that focus and track with the telescope. Photo Nick Lomb The control desk of the Mount Stromlo 74-inch (1.9-m) reflector in 1968, used by the night assistants. Further Mt Stromlo historical images are available at https://archives.anu.edu.au/exhibitions/through-adversity-stars-100-years-mount-stromlo-observatory Photo Nick Lomb Mount Stromlo Observatory purchased Melbourne Observatory’s Great Melbourne Telescope in 1940. The massive polar axis and other parts were then utilised in  a new 50-inch (1.3-m) telescope. The 2003 Mt Stromlo fire telescope destroyed the telescope and many other instruments and buildings at the observatory. The photo was taken soon after the fire. Photo Nick Lomb In 2008, the burnt-out parts of the Great Melbourne Telescope were brought back to Melbourne. There the Museum of Victoria and a dedicated team of volunteers from the Astronomical Society of Victoria are working to restore the telescope. The restoration project is continuing, but the now reassembled telescope can be seen at Scienceworks, Melbourne. Photo Nick Lomb The Parkes Radio Telescope, now also known by the Wiradjuri name of Murriyang, has been observing the radio sky at Parkes, NSW since 1961. In its early days, the telescope’s most famous activity was receiving the TV transmission of the first footsteps on the Moon in 1969 and relaying the signal world-wide. Many historic pictures of this and other Australian radio telescopes are available at https://www.atnf.csiro.au/resources/imagearchive/ . Photo Nick Lomb The 3.9 Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory pictured in 2012. This telescope, built jointly by the British and Australian governments, began regular scheduled operations in June 1975. A consortium of Australian universities now manage the telescope but its name has been left unchanged. Photo Nick Lomb The control desk of the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, pictured in 2012. The AAT was the first large telescope under computer control. Photo Nick Lomb The Fleurs radio telescope was at Badgery’s Creek, just outside Sydney. It originally consisted of 32 dishes, each of 5.8-m diameter, spread over east-west and north-south arms. After CSIRO transferred ownership to the University of Sydney, new larges dishes were added and the instrument became the Fleurs Synthesis Telescope. The photo shows some of the original dishes. Photo Nick Lomb The opening of the Australia Telescope in September 1988. The core of the radio telescope is the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at Narrabri, NSW. Four of ATCA’s six 22-m dishes are shown in the image. Photo Nick Lomb The emu in the sky. The head of the emu is the Coalsack nebula, the Southern Cross (Crux) is directly above. Below is the emu engraving at the Elvina engraving site, in Kuring-Gai Chase National Park, near Sydney. Credit: Barnaby Norris & Ray Norris

The Perth Observatory nearing completion, West Perth, Western Australia, 1899.  State Library of Western Australia 2195B/3:  The State-owned Perth Observatory had existed in Western Australia for over one hundred and seventeen years by the time it was closed for research in 2013. It had served a Colony and a State in delivering various scientific services to the people and the government of the day, as well as contributing to the international astronomical and scientific knowledge base. Its early life was born out of the needs and challenges of a new society; an initial British settlement and later colony founded in a new and strange land with few of the comforts of the British homeland.  Some of the foundation services, such as surveying and weather observations were essential for the fledgling Colony and had their roots in the State’s Survey Office formed in 1829.    Perth Observatory has been located at two sites in its history, the first at Mt Eliza on the outskirts of Perth City and later in the Perth Hills at Bickley. It has three Minor Planet Center (MPC) site codes 319, 322 and 323 due to the discovery of minor planets at its sites and with its instruments.   Mt Eliza.   Perth Observatory was founded on 29 September 1896 on a site overlooking the early Perth central business district. Its first task after foundation was to improve meteorological forecasting as well as assist in matters of geodesy, navigation, seismology and tides as well as assisting in surveying and defining the States’ boundary, all practical and essential services. In 1899 it received two telescopes, a standard 13-inch Astrograph by Grubb and a 6-inch Troughton & Simms Meridian Transit Circle, additionally two Milne Seismographs were installed.     By 1901 astronomy became an essential part of its business when it was asked to take over the Astrographic Catalogue Zone -31° to -41° Dec., approximately 229,000-star positions. By 1908 meteorology was transferred to a newly formed Commonwealth department, but Perth Observatory still remains a meteorological site to this day. In 1910 it received a 12 ½ inch Calver telescope in preparation for comet Halley. With the First and Second World War and the Great Depression, staff numbers were only maintained at a level to keep the doors open and provide essentail services. However, in the late 1950s staffing levels at the Observatory rose.     As a result of a grand WA Government plan for developing Metropolitan Perth in 1955, the land the Observatory had resided on was earmarked for the location of a Government Precinct that would see five Government towers erected on the site. Perth Observatory was initially to be relocated in the early 1960s, and then it was to be possibly closed due to the early and sudden death of its then Government Astronomer. Fortunately the observatory survived and moved to the hills east of the City to continue its work, but with a program more focussed on astronomy research than in its earlier years.    Between 1901 and 1963 Perth Observatory directors and staff had undertaken many significant activities. They had consolidated meteorological recordings from 1896 to 1908 to produce the first book on the climate of Western Australia and set up accurate time for the State (1899) after defining the Latitude for the State (1899). The Astrographic Catalogue Zone plates assigned to Perth had been completed and they had created the first catalogue of double stars for Declination -32, constructed Meridian catalogues for the entire Perth Astrographic Catalogue zones. The 129 th  Meridian, defining the eastern border of WA,had been surveyed and the team sent to observe the 1922 total solar eclipse at Wallal had provided critical time and surveying services to the Lick Observatory and other expeditions. Perth Observatory provided the US Navy time services during the war and they commenced seismological recordings and setup tide services for the North West. Perth Observatory was involved in early artificial satellite projects (Project Moonwatch), involved in the determination of Ephemeris Time and provided the all-important day and night tours and newspaper information services for the layman. It had also endured at least 3 attempts of closure.  The Administration building at Bickley, Perth Observatory archives 5 -12-67 P58-2. Bickley .  The second foundation stone for Perth Observatory was laid 30 kilometres east of Perth on 30 September, 1966. This was almost 70 years to the day from the laying of the first foundation stone on Mt Eliza. Unfortunately, the Government saw this as an opportunity to again relocate more services to the Commonwealth, this time Seismology, however the Observatory continued to provide other services.     The new Observatory continued its astrometric work using the original Grubb Astrograph and, as a result of the outcomes of a worldwide traveling fellowship tour by the Observatory’s third Government Astronomer,  accepted an offer for a German expedition to setup a new semi-automated Meridian telescope on the site. In addition, the Americans located a 24-inch Boller & Chivens telescope (called 'The Lowell' ) at Bickley during the Apollo missions. This telescope was large for its time. The University of Western Australia also setup a research telescope allowing the Observatory to move into more astrophysical fields of observation.     The new Observatory was rewarded by an increase in staff as the space race was seen as a valuable scientific avenue for Australia and the West Australian government to fund.    The Astrographic telescope commenced a program of second epoch plates with the same centres as those taken between 1901 and the 1940s with a view of investigating proper motions. In addition, investigations on minor planets and comets commenced. In 1970 observing efforts were rewarded with its own minor planet discovery, MP 2993 Wendy. The Hamburg Meridian expedition was successful, and the Perth 70 positional catalogue is still renown today. After the German team left in 1971, the telescope remained on loan and the Perth Observatory staff observed and created two new catalogues, Perth 75 and Perth 83 .  The University of Western Australia telescope, a redeveloped CATTS telescope of the late 1800s, was used to not only to teach and train students at all tertiary levels but assisted in programs on the discovery of the rings of Uranus in 1977 as well as being used to observe the apparition of comet Halley in the 1980s. The American ' Lowell' telescope had been initially used as part of the NASA funded International Planetary Patrol Program to obtain uninterrupted imaging to investigate the day-to-day and hour-to-hour changes in the large-scale atmospheric and surface features of the planets. After this, the telescope was fitted with a photometer, and this enhanced Perth Observatory's observation of comets and minor planets. Later the telescope was automated and worked on supernova searching as well as micro-lensing events.    On 21 October, 1976, Perth Observatory (Bickley) was State Heritage listed.    By 2013, Perth Observatory staff had completed 2 nd  epoch observatory of the Perth Astrographic Zones, recovered five lost comets, provided 10% of all ground-based observations of Comet Halley, discovered 27 new minor planets and been involved in many international observing programs. After 100 years of observing the astrographic telescope was replaced in 1999 by an automated telescope. The Hamburg Meridian Transit circle produced three prestigious Southern Hemisphere catalogues before being shutdown in 1987 and returned to Germany. The 'Lowell' telescope not only remained the only other one outside America in the International Planetary Parol Program in the late 1970s, but with the attachment of a photometer would see it changing theories on comets and minor planets until the late 1990s. It was responsible for the co-discovery of the rings of Uranus, ‘jets’ in Comet Halley and a Supernovae discovery.     In 2017 the Observatory completed a National Library of Australia 'Significance Assessment', and in 2019 a 'Needs Assessment'. It has digitised over 20,000 photographic glass plates and hundreds of State records of the work undertaken between 1896 and 2013.    Closure   Perth Observatory was to endure several more attempts at closure after its relocation to Bickley and in 2013 finally succumbed to all staff leaving due to Government funding being reallocated to other projects. It remains open today for tours by a volunteer group.    Conclusion   The Perth Observatory’s history is one of resilience, adaptation and inspiration. Founded initially to service the practical needs of a Colony and then a State, it grew into a centre of excellence on the world stage contributing to humanity’s exploration of space while retaining its deep engagement with the public.     The Observatory site and collection is a reminder of Western Australia's global connections in astronomy, and the search for knowledge by its directors and staff, despite funding and staffing challenges. There is continuing research into this history and ongoing digitisation projects that today are delivered by a dedicated group of astronomers and staff, often in their own time.  About the author: Dr Craig Bowers is an astronomer and worked at Perth Observatory, Bickley. His doctoral thesis is titled: 'The scientific history of the Perth Observatory from 1960 to 1993'. Craig works as the honorary historian at Perth Observatory, where he continues the tradition of writing a guide to the night sky for a WA newspaper and is on the Perth Observatory heritage team. Craig is a member of the HAAC Committee. References: Haynes, R., Haynes, R. D., Malin, D., and McGee, R.,(2010) Explorers of the Southern Sky, Cambridge University Press, pp 90-94. Link : https://www.cambridge.org/au/universitypress/subjects/physics/history-philosophy-and-foundations-physics/explorers-southern-sky-history-australian-astronomy Utting, M., (1993) Astronomy in Western Australia. Link : https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/outputs/991005541631407891 Utting, M., (1999) The Perth Observatory, 1940-1962. Link :  https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/outputs/991005541079607891 Bowers, C., (2016) The scientific history of the Perth Observatory from 1960 to 1993 Link: https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/outputs/991005540090107891 Perth Observatory - inHerit - State Heritage Office Link: https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/public/inventory/details/4ce87c15-3324-4c5c-9963-8b1b97340a17

Welcome to the website for the History of Australian Astronomy Chapter (HAAC) of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA). I am very excited to see this group formed due to the enthusiasm of people from across Australia who, like me, are passionate about the history of astronomy. Nick Lomb with the historic 29cm telescope at Sydney Observatory, courtesy Powerhouse. The history of astronomy in Australia is rich and diverse. It includes the observations of First Nations peoples, optical and radio astronomy, professional and amateur astronomers, the formation and operation of organisations, developments in education and political involvement. HAAC aims to create a community that can collaborate and share knowledge between those researching in this area, and those who have an interest in the history.   Numerous research papers and books have been published on the history of Australian astronomy. This website plans to make these publications more visible by listing them in a bibliography. The books and publications are from active astronomers or those who have retired from their research careers and now research history. As well, amateur astronomers and humanities researchers have written about the history of Australian astronomy.   A number of journals include this history, such as the Australian Academy of Science’s Historical Records of in Australian Science , the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of NSW and the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand’s Southern Stars . The Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage will include papers with international historical significance. Collections of artefacts are preserved and curated by state museums and universities. Many astronomical sites of significance are heritage listed and there are archives held at the National Archives of Australia, as well as state libraries.   This website is a work in progress that will grow with contributions from HAAC members and others. It is aimed at a wide audience: school children doing projects, members of the public with an interest in astronomy and its history, ASA members and active researchers in the subject.   ASA members are most welcome to join HAAC. The easy procedure to do so is given here . Non ASA members, such as amateurs astronomers, with an interest in the history should contact HAAC to enquire about associate ASA membership.   I look forward to wide participation in HAAC activities, such as the upcoming workshop , by people from many different areas of research and levels of expertise.   I thank the Council of the ASA for allowing HAAC to join its other chapters such as the Education and Outreach Chapter (EPOC). Thanks are also due to the members of the interim steering committee and to all who have supported the establishment of HAAC. The hard-working HAAC secretary, Toner Stevenson, and the HAAC webmaster Dirk Goës deserve special thanks for their development of the website.   Nick Lomb Chair of the History of Australian Astronomy Chapter of the ASA.

Ballarat Observatory. Photo Nick Lomb. Ballarat observatory, in the state of Victoria, opened in 1886 as the first municipal observatory in Australia. Its largest telescope is a locally-built 26-inch (66-cm) Newtonian reflector. Shown is the Observatory’s Jelbart dome containing a 5-inch (13-cm) Cooke lens telescope. The observatory is open to the public for visits and there is a very active local astronomy society. For more information, and to visit the observatory, use this link: https://ballaratobservatory.org.au/ .

The opening of the Australia Telescope in September 1988. Photo Nick Lomb The opening of the Australia Telescope in 1988 was very important to the further development in radio astronomy in Australia. The core of the radio telescope is the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at Narrabri, NSW. Four of ATCA’s six 22-m dishes are shown in the image above taken at the opening of the telescope by then Prime Minister Bob Hawke. To find out more about how Astronomy changed in Australia from 1966 through to 2024 read this paper: Lomb Nick, Stevenson Toner (2025) Spreading across the continent: the Astronomical Society of Australia 1966–2023. Historical Records of Australian Science 36, HR24020.

The 3.9 Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory pictured in 2012. Photo Nick Lomb This telescope, built jointly by the British and Australian governments, began regular scheduled operations in June 1975. A consortium of Australian universities now manage the telescope but its acronym (AAT) has been left unchanged.