As the 50th anniversary of man walking on the moon approaches this month, ArchivesACT has chosen the records of the long-running debate over the use of the Territory’s space sites for its July Find of the Month.
In a statement accompanying the find, ArchivesACT said television sets around the world transmitted footage of Neil Armstrong’s descent from the lunar module onto the surface of the moon.
“How many people knew then or know now that this global historical event was, due to a small technical difficulty, received and relayed to the world from Honeysuckle Creek, a space tracking station just outside of Canberra?”, the Archives said.
“In fact, the ACT was host to three tracking stations in the 1960s at Tidbinbilla, Honeysuckle Creek (pictured) and Orroral Valley.”
It said that as a result of changing technology, the stations at Honeysuckle Creek and Orroral Valley were eventually decommissioned and dismantled.
“The sites, which form part of Namadgi National Park, still serve as places of pilgrimage for interested space fans,” it said.
“These days, areas that were once bustling hubs of scientific discovery and technological innovation are campsites where the community can enjoy quiet contemplation and a few dozen kangaroo sightings — but this wasn’t always the plan.”
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had agreed to demolish the buildings and return the sites to their natural state but the Commonwealth Government requested that the buildings remain for unspecified future use.
The ACT Parks and Conservation Service suggested a Field Study Centre; in 1986, Christian youth organisation, Fusion Australia, submitted a proposal to use the Honeysuckle Creek site as a retreat and rehabilitation centre.
In 1990, the Buddhist Society of the ACT also considered the site for use as a Meditation and Retreat Centre.
“While options were being discussed and working parties formed, the sites became popular among vandals and looters and deteriorated beyond repair,” Archives said.
“In 1990 the Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee on Conservation, Heritage and the Environment suggested that as the Commonwealth Government had refused NASA’s offer to demolish the buildings in the first place and then neglected to preserve them it should bear the cost of demolition.”
In the end, the Commonwealth funded about a third of the cost of the demolition.
At Honeysuckle Creek, concrete foundations are all that remain of the original structures. Plaques commemorate the importance of the site.
