Science Week 2007 - Reflections

With National Science week having drawn to a close, it is with a great deal of satisfaction that I look back on the week of activities we have hosted here in Nhulunbuy for our "Arnhem Land - Astronomy & Science Fair".
The great support given to us by way of a grant from the National Science Week Committee, made it possible for our event to be one that NE Arnhemland will remember for some time to come.
Beginning with the mobile Planetarium from "Stardreaming - Portable Digital Theatre" set up first in the High school hall & then at the Primary School.
This saw a total of 808 students from all the Nhulunbuy schools including a few bus loads from Yirrkala CEC school, pass through the dome.
The smiles on the faces of these children was very rewarding for the dome operators Ray Johnston & Paul Thomas, who so generously donated their time to come up here & put the shows on for the benefit of our communities.
I encourage you to support their fantastic business that has educated & delighted at least 1/4 of our population during their visit here.
http://www.stardreaming.com.au/

Wednesday the 22nd saw the first public event with keynote presentations by Professor Ray Norris (CSIRO) over a buffet dinner at The Arnhem Club to a sell-out audience.
Friday night the 24th was "Astronomy by the Sea" at the Gove Peninsula Surf club, where 150 or so people had a good look through a variety of Telescopes at Jupiter, the Moon & some sparkling star clusters.

The Main Event:
The Science Fair was on Saturday the 25th at the Town Hall.
With a 7am start, the stalls quickly sprung from the ground & by 10am we were all up & running.
Gove FM began their outside broadcast, which was invaluable in letting people know what was happening as the day progressed.
The planetarium shows got underway after a short delay with a power problem & were soon booked out.
Fortunately we plan to bring the Planetarium back next year (Funding Permitting), so if you missed out you will get another chance then !
Prof. Ray Norris continued his captivating presentations throughout the day along with a few talks on Climate Change & Consumption Growth by Will & Matt.

Alcan Gove Environment Dept, Landcare and AQAIS provided some very informative well attended stalls with great hands on action.
As too did NPS, NCS, GAA and the library with their interactive science displays.

Gove Astronomers continued with Solar observing throughout the day and continued into the evening with views of Jupiter & the Moon. All the while, a steady stream of visitors came to our stall to snap up the astronomy goodies on sale.
Our space themed coloring contest was popular with the Kids and we have some nice prizes to give out to the winning entries.

The lunchtime Menu was delicious, with home made Eastern Dishes by Lar for GAA, who excelled in her efforts to provide fine food for the lunchtime crowd.
Dinner was a selection of burgers or a sausage Sizzle, for the somewhat smaller but still hungry crowd.
The Variety club doughnuts were popular as always with the ladies selling out their 40kg of Doughnuts by mid afternoon (yum !)

The face painting was a big hit with the kids (and a few big kids), sporting some wild designs.
Just ask Phil from Gove FM about his experience at the AFL Grand final with his Gove FM Octopus face paint on !
Evening saw the Glow products go on sale with the most popular items being the blue "Light Sabre's" with little Luke Skywalker's darting about in the darkness.
Throughout the day there were several raffles with loads of prizes given away to the lucky winners.

As I expected the Rockets were a big hit, with the final Launch to 1000ft drawing some wow's from the crowd.
It wasn't until the next day that we finally recovered the wayward rocket from that final & spectacular launch !

Local Band the Diego's came on stage about 6:30 pm with the last minute effort by Cliff to get a full PA & Lights set up for a 6 piece band ! (Thanks Cliff)
The music was lively and original proving a hit with the Science Fair attendee's.
By 9pm the evening was winding up with all the stall holders, presenters and organisers exhausted but very satisfied by what could only be described as a highly successful Science week 2007.

With the success of this Event GAA are already planning a Science Fair for 2008,
Support from Business & Individuals was fantastic with to many to mention here, but suffice to say the support from local & interstate business and individuals was outstanding.
This event shows that the town still has a strong community spirit and the more events that are staged the stronger that spirit will get.

The Garma Experience 2007

With the great success this past weekend for Gove Amateur Astronomers in presenting our "Astronomy at The Point", at the 2007 Garma Festival I feel compelled to let you all know about it.

Starting with a stall in the festival grounds from midday on Saturday the 4th Aug, we were barely unpacked and the information hungry festival attendees were booking tickets to our Saturday & Sunday evening shows and purchasing our Astronomy charts, books & map lights.
I am delighted to thank the efforts of our Club Volunteers Tony, Eleonore, Michael & Patrica ,Stephen and his guest Inez.
Without these great people, this event would not have been possible.
A special thank you to Tony & Eleonore who worked tirelessly from beginning to end, I am sure they will be glad to get back to work to recover, from our days starting at dawn & not finishing till after midnight !
Tony spent most of each day manning his Solar Telescope which shows in exquisite detail the solar flares on the disk of the sun, to the delight of festival attendees.
Both evenings saw groups of 60 to 70 people at 8, 9& 10 pm, gathering at the point for a laser guided tour of the constellations with Yolngu stories of their creation & purpose.
I was particularly honoured to have Yolngu elder women Djerrk Yunupingu in the Sunday night group, she was able to teach me new things about the Yolngu stories as I shared them with the tour guests.
Each tour was followed by a viewing session through one of 2 scopes present, each ably manned by either Tony, Steve or Michael.
I have to thank our Yolngu hosts & the Yothu Yindi foundation who allowed us to use "The Point", which they are seeking to make a permanent "Healing Place" camp, to be headed up by well known Yolngu Elder Woman, Gulumbu Yunupingu.
I look forward to Participating in Garma 2008, as this Festival goes from strength to Strength.

The success of Garma 2007 bodes well for the "Arnhemland Astronomy and Science fair" being hosted by GAA this month, from the 20th to the 25th Aug, here in Nhulunbuy. Details are at http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/sweek/search.asp
the webpage for linking to "National Science Week" NT events.