[Wavytone]

Hi Sharon,

The trouble is there is nothing else of astronomical interest there so I'm fairly sure no-one bothers - I only stumbled on them by accident once long ago when attending a BBQ in Parramatta park.

I know this may seem heretical to you, but unless there is something of considerable astronomical interest - sufficient to draw visitors regularly, they may as well not be there at all.

I came to this conclusion long ago - in 1989 I toured Europe for 3 months and among other things set out to see as many things as I could of astronomical historical interest in England and France.

Among many things, I visited the site of what had once been the old Paris observatory, where nothing remained except the stone pier of a meridian telescope. I was so disappointed after a fair journey to find it that I concluded that unless you have something actually worth showing, it's better to show nothing at all. Pretending that a lump of stone - or in your case, two - are worth visiting out of some sort of historical interest is just dishonest.

I visited to Europe again last year and among other things visited Greenwich. It was very very sad to see it renamed a "museum of time" and the vast majority of the exhibits I saw in 1989 had been removed. As I had taken my wife hoping to show her many of the things I had once studied as a student (she is interested) I felt sorely annoyed that most of the point of the trip was gone - and if I had known, we wouldn't have wasted a day going there. A shop in the basement selling badly-made replica junk (imported from India BTW) is no substitute for the real exhibits.

This reinforced that to me - as one who originally trained in physics and astronomy and has an enduring interest for 40 years - that the real interest lies in the equipment and records - the buildings themselves are of little interest, and if they are to be left empty they may as well close the museum.

In your case, a couple of stones aren't enough to draw visitors.

Better to simply admit that the interesting bits - the telescopes and observatory - are all gone. Pull up the stumps and send them to Sydney observatory where they can display them in a glass case, if you think it's worth it (I don't).

If on the other hand you had the funds to put a decent small observatory in the park with a nice refractor in it, and open that to the public for a look at the moon and planets on clear nights, that might actually draw some interest. Having the stones outside would be a nice touch. You'd probably even find someone keen enough to operate it for you, at no cost.

But I'm guessing that finding the funds for that would be beyond you.