The Parkes Radio Telescope is probably the best-known astronomical observatory in Australia.

Construction of the giant 210 foot (64 metre) parabolic dish for the CSIRO was begun in 1959 and it was completed and commissioned in 1961.

The design was an inspiration for the Deep Space Network’s 64 metre antennas at Goldstone and Tidbinbilla (which were later enlarged to 70m) and the 70m at Madrid. The telescope has an altazimuth mount, but uses a small master equatorial mount to which the alt-az structure is slaved – hence the dish can be driven as if it were on an equatorial mount.

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Parkes under construction, May 1961. Bruce Window took this photo on his way to start work at Island Lagoon Minitrack.

Bruce Window and Parkes under construction, May 1961. In April 1970, he would fly from Tidbinbilla to Parkes during the Apollo 13 emergency.

 

The Opening Ceremony.

The souvenir card from the Commissioning ceremony at Parkes, October 31, 1961. Scans courtesy of Dan Flett, whose grandfather, Leonard G. H. Huxley, was a physicist with the CSIRO (and also Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra, 1960-1967). Large, Larger.

The inside pages of the card. Large, Larger.

This early photo of Parkes was found in the Tidbinbilla archives. Transparency scan by Colin Mackellar, 2024.

 

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