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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. |
![]() Woolley office building |
![]() Woolley and Duffield buildings |
![]() The emergency generator arrives |
![]() Inside the Woolley Building |
![]() Student quarters |
![]() Helmut Jerjen's office |
![]() Woolley office building |