Personal Stories

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue20 1–30 September 2021

Hello,

I am the Project Manager (and deputy Operations Manager) at Siding Spring Observatory where I have worked since joining the ANU in January this year.  I live at the SSO on Mount Woorut with my wife, Judy, who works from home as an Office Manager for a Private Investigation company... so I have to be very careful!

I relocated to Coonabarabran from the Gold Coast (Queensland) where our two grown up children claimed squatters rights on our home and chucked us out.  This was a bit different to the standard process of parents trying to chuck the kids out! But we got them back and hit them up for rent!

Originally born, schooled and university’d in England, I have now been in Australia for over 30 years. Arrived to Adelaide, but quickly moved to Canberra (for an opportunity with CSIRO), before Brisbane and the Gold Coast.  I did spend 3 years in the middle back in England to let our children get to know their cousins, who have since travelled together (if you can remember a time before lock downs).  I have parents and three sisters still in England who each live in their own house closer than I am to the AAT to each other.  Their children are now moving into houses within the same radius.  A bit claustrophobic and stressful for us! Now we just have kangaroos, wallabies and mice to contend with, along with long cold winters!

I have worked as a software engineer, development manager and project manager with my last fifteen years being at Suncorp in Brisbane.  This involved project and operations management (including setting up a managed service through an external service provider) on a variety of infrastructure and telephony / contact centre projects.  I have now practiced project management for the past 25 years but, as with anything, I am still learning my trade every day.

My main hobby, and reason for my initial interest in the SSO, is Astrophotography.  I am currently hiding my telescopes, and the $ I have spent, from my wife’s private investigators in the APT building here at SSO.  It makes a huge difference to be able to just power on and immediately start collecting data.  I will need to find a new hiding place when DREAMS comes along but there are other domes currently unused at SSO so hopefully something will work out and my indiscretions will remain safe!

I feel very privileged living and working at the AAT and also with the AITC.  I continue to learn more every day on the technologies and systems and enjoy working with the excellent teams here and in Canberra. Little did I know just how complex the AAT beast is and the number of systems needed to support it, the top ends and the instruments.  Plus the effort the team puts in to keep it running.

I am looking forward to exciting times ahead as the SSO evolves, but could give the mice a miss!

Mike Sharrott