The Great Melbourne Telescope is celebrating its 150th birthday this year and to commemorate the occasion, Melbourne's Science works museum organised a public viewing. I went to one of the viewing sessions today and was very impressed with the work done on its restoration. The telescope has had a checkered life. Starting off in Melbourne where it was delivered from Dublin in 1868, reassembled and used for public viewing and research for about 75 years at the Melbourne Observatory. In 1944 the observatory closed and the GMT was transferred to Mount Stromlo Observatory in 1945. There it was modified extensively and very little of the original components were used.
Bushfires near Canberra in January 2003 devastated the Mt Stromlo observatory and little survived. All that remained of the GMT were a few original parts. Fortunately for original parts that were removed for the modifications, they were stored elsewhere and were saved from the destructive fires. The surving parts of the GMT that could be salvaged, were removed and transported back to Melbourne in 2008. It has been since then that a dedicated bunch of enthusiasts have voluntarily donated their time and skills in painstakingly trying to piece together the original parts that remain and assemble the telescope back to its 1868 specifications. There are little if any drawings that can be sourced to help with identifying and placing some of the parts back to where they came from. The best guide they have are some wonderful old photographs of the telescope being installed at the Melbourne Observatory not long after it arrived from Dublin.
I was surprised today to be told that after over 10 years of restoration the telescope is only about 50% complete. The expected time to complete the rebuild and be operational once more is in 3 yrs! As you can see it is a long process, delayed due to lack of funding and knowledge of reassembly. Despite the slow progress the instrument is looking mighty impressive with many missing parts having to be fabricated. A credit to the team who have been tirelessly working on it. The final triumph of this epic story is to return it to its original home at the Melbourne Observatory where it will operate as it did over 150 years earlier, entertaining future generations of the wonders of the night sky.
