In August 1962, a NASA site survey selected a radio-quiet valley 10 air miles from Canberra, in the sheep and cattle grazing lands of the Tidbinbilla Valley. In March 1963, NASA and the Australian government agreed to lease 150 acres to accommodate a 26 meter antenna and other tracking equipment.
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This October 1965 WRE map shows the locations of the three NASA tracking sites in the Australian Capital Territory.
It was produced for WRE by Richard (Dick) Collins, who participated in the site surveys for Honeysuckle Creek and Orroral Valley.
Orroral Valley is marked as DAF – i.e. Data Acquisition Facility.
Also marked are 41 Jardine Street, Kingston, a Department of Supply Office, and Endeavour House, on the corner of Canberra Avenue and Captain Cook Crescent, Manuka (the main Dept of Supply office).
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With thanks to Dick Collins. Scan by his daughter, Jo Allen. |
Bob Leslie, the inaugural Station Director of Tidbinbilla writes:
“An area of 364 acres was withdrawn from the lease of Mr N. Reid’s Oakey Creek Station (now Mr Harding’s Mulumba Station) for the site and the access road to the Tidbinbilla Road was made through the Congwarra Station of Mr W. Flint. An area of about 29 acres was fenced as the inner site of the tracking station and the remainder was returned to Mr Reid for agistment.
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The Tidbinbilla site before construction.
Looking roughly west north west.
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Photo via Mike Dinn. |
A contract for maintenance and operations services at the station was let to Space Track Pty Ltd in early 1963. This company was a consortium of de Haviland, Elliots and Amalgamated Electronic Industries (AET), formed for the purpose of the contract. Stan Joiner of de Haviland managed the contract for the consortium and John Gaibraith was the company’s senior representative for carrying out the task under the contract.
The design of the facilities for the station was undertaken by the ACT Regional Office of the Commonwealth Department of Works. Bob Irvine was the project engineer and George Dunlop was the architect.
Basil Monckton and Lance Sharpe of WRE and Mel Glenn of JPL, worked with the Department of Works on the specification and acceptance phases of the construction.
The contract for construction of the buildings, the power house and other facilities was let to A.V. Jennings on 1 July 1963. The attractive buildings, basically as we know them today, were completed within one year.
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This truck heading for Tidbinbilla, possibly transporting steel girders for the Operations Building, crosses Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, heading south.
Likely taken in 1963, Lake Burleigh Griffin had not yet been filled.
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Undated photo from the Tidbinbilla Archives. Scan: Colin Mackellar. |
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Dick Collins, from the Department of Supply, took this photo of problems at the Paddys River crossing during the construction of Tidbinbilla probably some time in 1963. Some of the railings on the right hand side of the bridge have had to be removed.
Large, Larger. Photo: Dick Collins. |
The driving force for the hurried establishment of the Tidbinbilla Station was the need for additional support for NASA’s rapidly expanding deep space programme. In particular NASA needed support from our longitude for the first probe to Mars; Mariner 4, in late 1964, while still supporting the Ranger lunar exploration project from the Island Lagoon Station at Woomera.”
References: Quotes from Bob Leslie, from his chapter “Space Tracking Stations”, written for the publication, “Canberra's Engineering Heritage”. Other information from “A History of the Deep Space Network” by William Corliss, 1976 (NASA CR-151915).
