[Barnacle (Bill)]

Hi All,

ABC reply received. A lot of children living in or near the city of Melbourne will likely miss out.

Extracted below:

"Thank you very much for your email correspondence, which has been forwarded to me as the ABC's Head of Community Engagement. I am pleased to read that you enjoyed the 2017 Stargazing Live event so much.

This year we have taken a different approach to our community activities for Stargazing Live. As you are aware, we are aiming for a World Record Attempt which involves as many parts of the Australian community as possible. As such, we are focused on supporting multiple Star Parties across Australia rather than having one mass event in Melbourne again. Accordingly, we are not hosting an event in Federation Square this year. I'd like to respectfully note that we did have a number of conversations with Federation Square about our 2018 planning, in contrast to the advice you received from Federation Square that they didn't hear back from the ABC.

If you are interested in attending a Star Party, below is a list of the locations across Victoria where Star Parties will be held. For a full list of parties and to book tickets to any of these events you can visit abc.net.au/stargazing

Berwick Wilson Botanic Park City of Casey
Castlemaine Castlemaine Scout Hall 1st Castlemaine Pioneer Scout Group
Clayton Monash University, Clayton Campus - Northern Plaza The School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University
Emerald Emerald Secondary College Mount Burnett Observatory and Emerald Secondary College
Gisborne Gisborne Secondary College Gisborne Secondary College
Kerang Kerang High School, Sports Oval Bill’s Astro Garden
Mount Martha The Briars Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society
Mount Pleasant Ballarat Municipal Observatory and Museum Ballarat Astronomical Society Inc
Pascoe Vale Pascoe Vale Girls College Pascoe Vale Girls College
Pomonal Pomonal Estate Pomonal Progress Association
Sea Lake Lake Tyrrell - Viewing Platform Advance Sea Lake inc
Wannon Wannon Oval, Wannon Reserve Southern Grampians Star Gazers
Thank you once again for your enquiry and please let me know if I can assist you with any further information.

Kind regards,

Michele

Michele Fonseca
Head Community Engagement
[/I]
Clear skies!

Bill