Arabic version: افتتاح مرصد كونيبا لرصد النجوم للسكان الأصليين
According to ABC News, the remote Indigenous community of Koonibba in far west South Australia now owns and operates a stargazing facility developed with space services company Southern Launch. The Koonibba Observatory is intended to help visitors learn about Indigenous astronomy and the ancient stories associated with the night sky.
The observatory offers views of the Koonibba Test Range, about 40 kilometres north-west of Ceduna. It includes a Sky-Watcher Flextube 400P telescope, which extends more than 150 centimetres. Southern Launch chief executive Lloyd Damp said the facility cost more than $1 million to build and was designed to attract tourists, including visitors watching rocket launches and satellite re-entries.
Geraldine Ware, chairperson of the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation board, said about 20 people were expected to receive training to operate the telescope before tourism activities begin. She said stories shared by Elders while people sat around fires and looked at the stars could be carried forward through the facility.
Googatha elder Aunty Sue Haseldine said she was concerned that the complex relationship First Nations people have with the stars could be simplified for tourists. She said stories that had left Earth lived on in the sky and described teaching her grandchildren and great-grandchildren how to find their way home by the stars.
Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Corey McLennan said the observatory was about creating jobs, growing tourism and investment, and giving young people opportunities to learn about science, technology and space while maintaining their connection to Country. The community also sits near Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range, which has hosted commercial rocket launches since September 2020 and recently received Varda Space Industries’ W-8 capsule.
