New Southland Observatory needed

We are a local astronomical society which finds itself without a home. For 45 years we operated from the observatory at the Southland Museum, but as of July 14, 2017 we have been unable to use that facility as Work and Safety have declared it unsafe. In the years we have been operating we have run weekly public education nights and have records of well over 40,000 people coming to our site. Recently we also started to run open nights in school holidays and in just two sessions attracted over 600 members of the public.

The feedback we have had since the closure is one hundred percent positive in its support for our society, and we have taken that as a mandate to do everything in our power to recover and continue to serve our community as before. Recently we have resorted to placing a portable telescope on the tennis courts next to the museum, but this is labour intensive, needing setting up and alignment every time we open. Not an ideal option.

It is to this end that we have decided to build a new observatory on land of our own, and to aid in this endeavour we are asking for donations from the public.