Years ago we use to have astronomers come and stay new moon weekends,not many people keen these days,with only one or two serious astronomers coming up in recent times.
I have not advertised new moon nights for a while,thought I'd see if anyone wants to come up to the Blackbutt Range this weekend,two hours from Brisbane,if there is any interest we will do camp oven roast meals.
leave a message here or PM (my box gets full regularly).
Great views to the north-very well suited to M31 imaging.
A few more details-our property is 2 hours drive N.W of Brisbane,very dark skies,240v power available.Brazier and meal available.My observatory can sleep two people-first in get positions.Outside toliet/wash room available.
NO PETS prefer no children,bring telescopes,cigars,and booze.Try to get up no later than say 3 pm.In previous times people would arrive at 5 pm,and it takes a while to set gear up,so would be cutting into dark time.
NOTE-the Blackbutt Range up grade is completed,there are no more stop/go 10 minutes waits any more
yes Morton,looks like most astronomers are down NSW,years ago there use to quite a few astronomers in S.E QLD, I thought with Hazeldean dark sky site now closed down,astronomers would be looking for a DS site.I'm dumbfounded by lack of response!
It really is such a shame the new management of Hazeldean has,after twenty years of letting astronomers use their grounds,now has now made it no longer allowed for astronomers to go there,but to ban them is very bad for our interest.So happy to make my DS site available,its only another 40 minutes from Hazeldean.
I don't know where you got your information from but you are wrong. I am the co-ordinator between Hazeldene and Brisbane Astronomical Society, and astronomers have not been banned from Hazeldene. The only issue is that due to maintenance work at the school being done in October our dark sky weekend has been cancelled.
Using such words like "banned" and "no longer allowed" is not called for. I think that you should get your facts right before making such statements. I would appreciate it if you retract your comments and apologise to the people for posting false information.
For all of the people who would have attended this weekend at Hazeldene and have decided against it because of the negative comments made by Hotspur - Chris. Feel welcome to come and see for yourself that we still have use of Hazeldene.
Thank You
Chris Landman
Co-ordinator - Dark sky weekends
I don't know where you got your information from but you are wrong. I am the co-ordinator between Hazeldene and Brisbane Astronomical Society, and astronomers have not been banned from Hazeldene. The only issue is that due to maintenance work at the school being done in October our dark sky weekend has been cancelled.
Using such words like "banned" and "no longer allowed" is not called for. I think that you should get your facts right before making such statements. I would appreciate it if you retract your comments and apologise to the people for posting false information.
For all of the people who would have attended this weekend at Hazeldene and have decided against it because of the negative comments made by Hotspur - Chris. Feel welcome to come and see for yourself that we still have use of Hazeldene.
Thank You
Chris Landman
Co-ordinator - Dark sky weekends
You are wrong! as off 2014 astronomers are no longer welcome at Hazeldean! The astronomers who do the astro nights for school kids are most upset that after 20 years its no longer available.
I feel,you are very rude with your high brow post,I was only trying to help out others in our interest.I will certainly not bother helping out astronomers if that's the response I get.
I shall see what happens tomorrow with my meeting with the principal of Hazeldene. Stop your negative comments until the people who know inform the people who think they know. By the way I am not rude at all, you are misleading people into believing something that has not been confirmed
I shall see what happens tomorrow with my meeting with the principal of Hazeldene. Stop your negative comments until the people who know inform the people who think they know. By the way I am not rude at all, you are misleading people into believing something that has not been confirmed
I have been approached by members from several astronomy clubs in S.E QLD,who have been told that they will no longer be able to use Hazeldean as from 2014,there appears a lot of upset from astronomers about about not been able to have this access to Hazeldean.
I feel your comments are very rude,and quite surprised someone try to help astronomers would be aggressively set on,I have a habit of helping others out,in future,I'll be less forth coming,and not offer help.
BTW I have been approached by people in various positions and standing in the astronomy community about using my property as a DSS,I certainly have not seeked these people.
See below is a copy from an email sent to me by the current Principal at Hazeldean. I hope that this email will put all the rumours that have been spread by Hotspur - Chris to bed. I have cut and pasted this message here as it was sent to me by Sandra Hearnden.
Chris
I am unfortunately having difficulty registering for this website and consequently can't respond to the comments. I am hoping that you might be able to relay this message to the readers.
My name is Sandra Hearnden and I am the Principal at Stanley River EEC at Hazeldean. I can absolutely confirm that there are no issues with visits from any Astronomical group for the future. SREEC has always enjoyed having all types of community groups utilise our Centre on weekends and holidays providing they have the PLI to cover their visit. The information that was supplied was inaccurate. I invite the writer of the comments to call me personally so that we might clear up any concerns that he has and to identify where he got his information The Centre's phone number can be found on our website stanleyrivereec.eq.edu.au . I also encourage other people to make contact with us if you are interested in accessing our site for the future. Expressions of Interest are now open for both Community user groups and Schools wishing to access our Centre and programs. I wish everyone happy gazing!! We look forward to visits from Brisbane Astronomical Society and SEQ Astronomical Society in 2014.
Regards Sandy
So with that response from the principal I would like to ask Hotspur - Chris to be a man and apologise for the misinformation that he had spread. It will be greatly appreciated if he does it as I had many questions asked to me over the weekend, with regards to his comments made.
Not sure why members of BAS and former members of SEQAS contacted me and told me Hazeldean was no longer available,they were obviously wrong,one chap was a commitee member that mentioned the closure,and asked if astronomers could come to our property-I simply looked this request and agreed.
While the information I was posted was incorrect,I'd have not expected-with such an offer,and given astronomers a usually educated,the rude and aggressive response,I'll certainly not be inviting astronomers again.
I once made a mistake on on another forum,a member contacted me via PM,and politely pointed my mistake out,and all was put right,and was very friendly.It was a forum-that I would not have expected such from,an astronomy forum-I would have expected such from,but it did not occur-quite shameful really.
For all involved in the back and forth:
Information being correct or not is irrelevant now. I have to agree with Chris T (Hotspur) there is an easy way to fix this privately and have the details updated publicly afterwards.
As Chris L pointed out the details were incorrect and the displacement was temporary for maintenance to occur (this time). As I am a member of BAS I can confidently state there has been much concern and discussions regarding the longevity of Hazeldene as a DSS and even considerations of alternatives such as Camp Duckadang, so the response from Chris L is in my opinion a little harsh given the full circumstances and the ease of which information and concerns like that could be misrepresented. It’s all in how that is handled.
Chris T does know a lot of people outside of the BAS who have or do utilise SREEC and “NO” the relationship between the school and astronomy organisations have not always been so smooth (with any luck this is being turned around and I thank people like Chris L for their efforts in maintaining and progressing those relationships).
However back to the essence of Chris's post.
Chris was offering a safe powered site for a small number of likeminded astronomers to visit during the new moon weekends. There is plenty of room and as per the pictures a brazier for some warmth, BBQ for food and areas to camp.
Personally I have always been welcomed by Chris and his family, we enjoy some nice country style food, a few drinks good conversation under dark skies with great 360’ views.
Rant
I love my astrophotography and I frequent Chris's place for a DSS almost every month, I want to know I have some where safe and friendly to go to in the future "IF" sites like SREEC become unavailable.
I found it a little aggravating the response this post got (Hence my writing this). It is at the end of the day 1 man offering the use of his property for anyone to use as ma DS location. Irrespective of correct details or not regarding SREEC it is still a very generous offer not often afforded these days.
To Chris
Chris I look forward to seeing you this afternoon, (Hazeldene is closed for paining or so I am told, so I can’t go there this weekend . Hopefully the clouds stay away, if not I will bring some beers and we can just relax and catch up on life J.
I have to agree with Chris T (Hotspur) there is an easy way to fix this privately and have the details updated publicly afterwards.
. Hopefully the clouds stay away, if not I will bring some beers and we can just relax and catch up on life J.
