Day 72 Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum

Today we started out at the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum, which celebrates the little-known history of the role Carnarvon played in the manned space program and in the Australian satellite communications industry.

In 1966, the Casshorn antenna locally known as the ‘Sugar Scoop’ was used for the first television broadcast from Australia to the BBC in London. The program was called “Down Under Comes Up Live”.

Originally, the Sugar Scoop was one of only five 42-foot Casshorn antennas ever built in the world. Because it is the last survivor of that group, it is now one of only one left standing on Earth.

On 21 July 1969, the day of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Casshorn antenna which stands beside the OTC Dish relayed Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon from NASA’s Honey Suckle Creek Tracking Station to Perth’s TV audience via Moree earth station – the first live telecast into Western Australia. Later in 1969, the larger 29.6 metre wide steerable antenna was built to facilitate better communication between the NASA Tracking Station and the USA.

The Carnarvon Tracking Station was built to support NASA’s Gemini, Apollo and Skylab programs. It was commissioned in 1964 and operated for 11 years. It was the last station to communicate with the space capsules leaving the earth’s orbit, and the last to make contact before splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. At the height of the operation, it had a staff of 220 people.




We watched the footage, along with sound effects of the launch of Apollo 11 in the life size Command Module which had 3 astronauts live in for 6 days. A very small space indeed.








There was a beautiful display of flowers on our way home from the museum, and a sculpture.




After lunch we went to the Gwoonawrdu Mia Cultural Centre and Art Gallery and then did the heritage walk around town, along with the mural and art trail.





The Gascoyne Hotel constructed in 1900 it was a licensed hotel in 1911. Initially used as a boarding house, the proprietor stipulated that no women or children were allowed to board there as he wanted a quiet place to stay when he came in from the station.



The Tramway Bridge constructed around 1900, used to transport sandalwood, wool and general goods from One Mile Jetty to the goods store on Camel Lane.



HMAS Sydney Memorial in honour to the servicemen lost when the ship was torpedoed off the coast of Carnarvon.





The Old Post Office was built in 1900. In 1928 Charles Kingsford Smith completed the first flight across the Pacific Ocean. However, he spent two years delivering mail and other goods around the Gascoyne Region.



ANZ Building was built using handmade bricks of local pindan clay in 1905. Originally the Union Bank it became the ANZ in 1951.



Constructed in 1907 with distinctive pointed arch windows local red ochre pindan clay tuck pointed bricks and heavy stucco bands at a cost of 1,400 pounds donated by local pastoralists.



Jubilee Hall was built around 1887 it has been used as a dance hall, library and council chambers. Today it is a workshop for local potters, crafters and quilters.



Former Parish Hall built in 1905 using local pindan clay bricks, this single-storey Federation Free style structure is celebrated for its deep-rooted history as a social anchor for the remote Gascoyne community. Over the past century, it transitioned through many lives: a secretive Masonic Lodge, a vibrant community cinema, a bustling church parish hall, and a local printing press.



St Mary's Star of the Sea Catholic Church designed by Monsignor Hawes and built in 1935 for the tender price of 2,087 pounds.



Port Hotel built circa 1880, flooding in 1890 & 1900 seriously damaged the wood and iron and the building was relocated. In 1925 it was damaged by fire and demolished, the remaining building was rebuilt. In 1960 it was again damaged by a cyclone and was upgraded to the hotel you see today.