LET ME take you for a trip in the TARDIS to the land of safari suits, big flares, big hair, big platform soles and big ideas. One of the latter was for Monash University to have its own research-grade astronomical observatory in the nearby Dandenong Ranges. This was the early 1970s and money for such projects, in comparison to today's aftermath of the GFC, was as plentiful as Holden Kingswoods. The Monash Observatory was thus established at Mount Burnett, a 40-minute drive east of the university's Clayton campus.

At that time, this was a very dark site. One could argue the site selected for the observatory was not the darkest location in Victoria, but it was much darker than Clayton and the relative proximity and access on sealed roads made up for any shortcomings.

Mt Burnett Observatory.

A 16-inch mirror telescope was installed, which, for the times, was large enough for the job. Soon an observer's quarters was added in the form of a pre-fabricated log cabin.

In 1985, with money from a Commonwealth grant, a new telescope with a superlative quality 18-inch mirror, made by hot-shot mirror maker Bill James, was installed. Finally, a second telescope with a a 10-inch mirror at its heart was housed in the grounds and was maintained in a roll-off shed.