Moripo Park Dark Sky Site Project

With the assistance of Peter Treseder OAM and the PG Dukes Foundation, the Astronomical Association has the opportunity to establish an excellent dark sky site at Moripo Park, Hyndmans Creek – approximately halfway between Wauchope and Long Flat.

The 62-year old dome from the first Observatory in Port Macquarie has been relocated to this site and is being restored. Due to a lack of sufficient funding, much of the labouring work around the site has been painstakingly undertaken by volunteers – spadeful by spadeful – but it is progressing well and has been used by our keenest astrophotographers like Paul Lloyd and Steve Phelps already to produce some extraordinary photographs. 

Funding is needed for solar panels to provide the power to the site and to make the site more readily accessible to more people. But once power is available and the Cassegrain 14 inch telescope from the old site is installed in the dome, the site will become available to invited guests, members and students.The Moripo Dark Sky site development like the new Observatory strives ultimately to be of value not to set new records or discover new celestial bodies….but you don’t know if you don’t try.