ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collection
HMSS 0314 Mt Stromlo Observatory, the Aftermath
Call Number | HMSS 0314 |
|---|---|
Collection | Mt Stromlo Observatory, the Aftermath |
Date Range | 2003 |
Quantity | 0.02m (1 album) |
Access Conditions | open |
Copying conditions | with attribution |
Related Collections | HMSS 0238 Wrap Up Canberra Records |
Denise Sutherland, a Canberra author, puzzle-writer and artist, and her husband Ralph have a long association with Mount Stromlo. Ralph Sutherland is an astronomer at the Australian National University, and Denise’s father Barry Newell is an astrophysicist and was the Administrator of Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories of the Australian National University.
On 23 January 2003, just five days after the bushfires wiped out much of Mt Stromlo, members of staff were taken through the ruins. All the telescopes had been destroyed; the steel dome of the 74-inch telescope survived but the smaller telescopes had aluminium domes which melted. The workshops, the Administration Building which also housed the library, the Director’s residence and several other residences for staff and visiting students were destroyed. The Visitor Centre, on the northern side of the ridge, had survived but was smoke damaged, and the Woolley and Duffield Buildings and some residences on the southern side also survived.
Most of these photographs were taken by Denise and Ralph on 23 January; the last five were taken on a later visit, after the external debris had been removed and the site made secure.
Image Number | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|
1 | Road to Mt Stromlo at the intersection with Cotter Road | 23 January 2003 |
2 | Lower end of the Mt Stromlo road | 23 January 2003 |
3 | Burned pine trees on the Mt Stromlo road | 23 January 2003 |
4 | Burned pine trees on the Mt Stromlo road | 23 January 2003 |
5 | View south through burned pines towards the Cotter Road | 23 January 2003 |
6 | Shell of a residence | 23 January 2003 |
7 | Shell of the residence in image no. 6 | 23 January 2003 |
8 | Shell of a residence | 23 January 2003 |
9 | Remains of House no. 9 (Newells’ home from ca 1984-1991) | 23 January 2003 |
10 | Ruins of house next door to no. 19 | 23 January 2003 |
11 | Shell of a residence | 23 January 2003 |
12 | Burned out car and garage at house no. 18 | 23 January 2003 |
13 | Children’s playground and shell of a brick building behind the trees | 23 January 2003 |
14 | Shell of a residence | 23 January 2003 |
15 | Site of house no. 19 (the Newells’ old home, which had been removed by the ANU some years earlier) | 23 January 2003 |
16 | Ruins of a residence | 23 January 2003 |
17 | Duffield Building, southern facade from below | 23 January 2003 |
18 | Shell of the Director’s residence | 23 January 2003 |
19 | Shell of Farnham telescope dome at the western end of the Administration Building | 23 January 2003 |
20 | Shell of Administration Building, from the eastern end | 23 January 2003 |
21 | Looking through a window of the Administration Building library at ashed files on sagging shelves | 23 January 2003 |
22 | View through an eastern end window of the Administration Building to the western wall | 23 January 2003 |
23 | Ashed files and books in the Administration Building library | 23 January 2003 |
24 | Ashed files and books in the Administration Building library | 23 January 2003 |
25 | Ashed files and books in the Administration Building library | 23 January 2003 |
26 | Back corner of the eastern end of the Administration Building, looking west | 23 January 2003 |
27 | Internal courtyard of the Administration Building | 23 January 2003 |
28 | View into the Administration Building from the courtyard | 23 January 2003 |
29 | Ruins of the 50-inch Great Melbourne telescope | 23 January 2003 |
30 | Ruins of the 50-inch Great Melbourne telescope | 23 January 2003 |
31 | Debris from the aluminium dome outside the 50-inch Great Melbourne telescope | 23 January 2003 |
32 | Interior of the dome of the 50-inch Great Melbourne telescope | 23 January 2003 |
33 | Interior of the dome of the 50-inch Great Melbourne telescope | 23 January 2003 |
34 | Shell of the Mechanical Workshop | 23 January 2003 |
35 | Shell of the Mechanical Workshop | 23 January 2003 |
36 | Shell of the Optical Workshop from the eastern end of the Mechanical Workshop | 23 January 2003 |
37 | Shell of the Uppsala telescope dome | 23 January 2003 |
38 | Interior of the Uppsala telescope dome | 23 January 2003 |
39 | Main entrance and part of the dome of the 74-inch telescope | 23 January 2003 |
40 | Dome of the 74-inch telescope | 23 January 2003 |
41 | Interior of the 74-inch telescope dome | 23 January 2003 |
42 | Remains of the 74-inch telescope | 23 January 2003 |
43 | Shell of the Yale-Columbia telescope dome | 23 January 2003 |
44 | View through a window of the interior of the Yale-Columbia telescope dome | 23 January 2003 |
45 | 74-inch telescope dome, and the Visitor Centre at right behind the trees, looking west | 23 January 2003 |
46 | Debris inside the Yale-Columbia telescope dome | 23 January 2003 |
47 | Open space near the Director’s residence; car park at top left | 23 January 2003 |
48 | Car park and open space near the Director’s residence | 23 January 2003 |
49 | View to the Brindabella Ranges from the road near the petrol pump, west of the Mechanical Workshop | 23 January 2003 |
50 | Rear of the Woolley Building | April 2003 |
51 | Front entrance of the Administration Building | April 2003 |
52 | Protective wire fencing around the Administration Building | April 2003 |
53 | Close-up view through the front door to the back of the Administration Building | April 2003 |
54 | Entrance to a wing of the Administration Building from the courtyard | April 2003 |