Destroyed By Bushfire: January 2003

Many people will now know that much of Mt. Stromlo Observatory was destroyed by bushfire on the afternoon of Saturday 18 January 2003. Fortunately, all staff were evacuated minutes before the fire struck. However, two Stromlo staff lost their homes in the nearby suburb of Duffy, and many others fought to save their homes. Only three of the eleven houses on Stromlo remain habitable.

NIFS was destroyed, along with the workshops, the 74 inch telescope, the 50 inch MACHO telescope, the Yale-Columbia telescope, the 9 inch Oddie telescope, the heritage-listed administration building, and the Director's residence.

The two academic office buildings, the Duffield Building and the Woolley Building, were virtually untouched. RSAA staff are expected to move back into these buildings in a couple of weeks.

The NIFS science detector was in customs at the time. It arrived four days later and is safe.

The following pictures were taken on Monday 20 January when the media were given their first access to the site. The site had been made safe by removing live power lines and debris from the roads.

While pictures of the devastation at Mount Stromlo Observatory are distressing, we should remember that much of the surrounding suburban area looks the same with over 450 houses destroyed in Canberra.

Copyright @ 2003, Peter McGregor
Images must not be reproduced or mirrored in any form without written permission from Peter McGregor.

NIFS in the detector lab.	The NIFS cryostat	Control system thermal enclosure	NIFS integration frame	Precision XYZ measuring machine	Optical alignment bench
NIFS on 28-JAN-03.	NIFS on 28-JAN-03.

Pine forest by the boom gate	Pine forest on the way up	Graham Blackman's house	Another residence	The grass area below House 18	First view of the Duffield Building
Below Agris's house	The tea room end of the Administration Building	The Duffield and Woolley Buildings	The library end of the Administration Building	The tea room end of the Administration Building	Solar Telescope and library
Administration and library	The Woolley Building	Solar Telescope and library	The 50 inch MACHO Telescope	The 50 inch MACHO Telescope	Back of the Administration Building
	Mechanical workshop store	Stanley lathe	Optical workshop glass saw	Optical workshop	The 74 inch Telescope
74 inch observer's room	74 inch coude room	Yale-Columbia Telescope	Back of the workshop building	Trees behind the workshop building	The 74 inch coude room
74 inch entrance	74 inch entrance	Optical workshop	Mechanical workshop windows

Woolley office building

Woolley and Duffield buildings

The emergency generator arrives

Inside the Woolley Building

Student quarters

Helmut Jerjen's office

Woolley office building

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