Outreach Update
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue42 1–31 July 2023
As Mat updated in the All School Meeting, work with Mulligan’s Flat / WildBark is progressing well. We have an idea of what needs to happen by all parties over the next 6 months and the path is being defined on how to do that. The goal is to have the Visitor Centre and cafe open, along with a few other improvements, in December. We all want to do it right, to give the cafe and operations the best chance of success. There is a lot of work to do between now and then, but hope and optimism are on our side!
We are continuing to run our Public Astronomy nights. Unfortuantely cloud and rain put a dampener on June’s event, but 60 or so people still turned up to hear a talk! We have three more nights for this year - 21 July, 18 August, and 22 September. Make sure to tell your friends, though we are nearly booked out. If you are keen to participate, or give a talk, send me an email! It is a great chance to talk to the public, as we get about 1200 people showing up!
Pete Swanton will be leading our Astronomy Night outside Parliament House on Thursday 6 July for NAIDOC week. Tickets available : https://events.humanitix.com/stargazing-aph-july2023
During the 2nd week of the July school holidays, we will be running 3 days of school holiday programs. They will be aimed at children 6 - 14 so if you know families who are looking for something fun to do, spread the word. More information will be on the Mt Stromlo Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MtStromlo).
Despite school holidays starting, we have had lots of schools visiting, with nearly 500 students. This included a school from a remote Aboriginal community in WA. Regardless of the cold, they seemed to enjoy the visit and even shared some of their knowledge of the stars with us!
Private nights are also in full swing, booking out all evenings, all days of the week. In July, most of them are going to be international visitors - as stargazing at Mt Stromlo is quickly becoming one of the most popular tourist activities in Canberra!
Finally, August means National Science Week. From 12 - 20 August we will be participating in a number of events, including science in the shopping centres and other events. Also, after working with the ACT Government, we are the official sponsor and host of Science Week in the ACT.
Brad Tucker
