In 2012, I led an astronomy night at a place called Ongerup, in the Stirling Ranges, known for Bluff Knoll and impressive wildflowers. They have a malleefowl research centre there, “Yongergnow“, and the woman who managed it then invited me to Ongerup to deliver an astronomy talk. It was fabulous. David Malin, of the Anglo-Australian Observatory, gave me permission to use his photos and with a well-presented audio-visual display I delivered a talk on almost everything from the Big Bang and the persecution of Galileo to the HR diagram, RA and Dec and modern constellations. Fortunately, a great man, who used to ride around the country on his motorbike stargazing, lived nearby, and he brought his big telescope. The Moon was obligingly in crescent phase, so we followed the talk with sky-gazing outside – some naked eye, some with the excellent telescope. The whole town came and we had a great time, even people who were into astrology found it fascinating and enjoyed it. It was well-organised, well-catered and the telescope was a major feature. I was immensely appreciative of Ongerup and all those who took care of me while I was there – I felt like a celebrity. It also made me appreciate how little people in the bush get of this kind of live interaction, whether astronomy talks or musical performances. Knowing how receptive they are to it and how important it can be, we should encourage it.

Little anecdote – apparently, people were so impressed with the way that night and other talks I gave in the bush went, word got around and it helped lead to the idea for the ABC TV’s “Stargazing Live” nights with Dr Brian Cox and Julia Zemiro. It’s probably apocryphal, but I like to believe it, so if it is total bs I apologise and ask the makers of the show to go easy on my little delusion.

With the now acknowledgement of some of the “hidden figures” in space projects, it is timely to note that women have been involved in astronomy at all times, both as acknowledged trail blazers and often behind-the-scenes. Years ago, as part of an astronomy course, I wrote a paper on the “Carte du Ciel” project, an ambitious international collaborative attempt to photograph the entire sky, launched in 1887, in which brief reference is made to women employed on the project. With minor modification, the paper can be read by clicking on the link below. Note the paper was written in 2003, so the web links in the references do not work.

I should point out that amateur science is important and astronomy, specifically, is a field in which amateur contribution is of great significance. In this paper it is merely noted that the “Carte du Ciel” project marked a transition in Australian science from amateur to “big science”, which was not necessarily a good thing and had both its advantages and disadvantages. Much of the ground-breaking research in Australia at the time was by amateurs. 

“Photographing the Sky in 1887 – Australia’s contribution to the Carte du Ciel project”

I loved Jules Verne as a child and remember well seeing movies like “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” and “Master of the World”. In the 1990’s, I came across a story by Verne in the original French, practically unheard of in the English-speaking world, which gave a very different view of Verne as opposed to his reputation as a not-too-literary glorifier of ‘Boy’s Own’ science. This led to a paper I wrote in 2000 for an undergrad science fiction course. We considered having it published then as quite revelatory, but I decided against it at that time. With dystopian science fiction and its predictions and warnings seeming to be emerging as fact, it may be interesting to know something of the take on science the writer generally known as a utopianist really had. Therefore, as a matter of general interest and slightly blushing, I reproduce the paper here, complete with typos and corrections by my lecturer! The original was 5000 words which had to be reduced to 3000 for submission, thus the occasionally stilted turn of phrase and attempt to cram essential detail into footnotes – necessary reading for context.

N. B. Today, I would translate “Le Feu…Il brille au Paradis, il brule l’Enfer” more simply as “Fire – it shines in Heaven, it burns in Hell” and  the literal translation of “Qui qu’en donne” is slightly different from that as it appears in the essay.

My work on Australian history overturns much previously incorrect material and introduces much that has never been in the public domain before. My research is original and independent and is based on primary documents and sources, on occasion double-checked by staff at relevant bodies, ensuring that, inadvertent errors aside, the material is accurate. I have leap-frogged the process of disbelief by providing complete citations and references, making all material easily verifiable.

I realise that people who have endorsed, written Fore-wards and Prefaces to, presented, introduced etc. the incorrect work by previous writers were/are probably unaware that it was incorrect. My main focus is merely on getting the correct material into the public domain. Then with real history, real history can really start – meaningful analysis based on accurate information can do what the study of history is for.

Several years ago I went searching for issues of the “Queanbeyan Times” newspaper,  founded in 1879 by John Allan O’Neill. In late 1888, it was sold to George Tompsitt and in 1893 it was sold to the “Queanbeyan Age”. At some point after that, all back copies from its original ownership were destroyed, leaving only three to be retained by the State Library of NSW.

Enquiries to the logical places and newspaper advertisements drew no results.

I would be grateful for any information as to any copies of or clippings from the paper from 1879 to 1893 that anyone may know of.