Big Skies Collaboration

Presenter(s): Dr Merrill Findlay

Affiliation(s): Big Skies Collaboration; Central West Astronomical Society; University of Canberra

Session details: Saturday, 2018-03-31 01:00:00, MCON

Abstract

The Big Skies Collaboration brings together arts practitioners, astronomers, and local communities within a region I've defined as southeastern Australia’s 700 Kilometre Array of astronomical observatories, which extends from CSIRO’s ATCA near Narrabri, in NW NSW, to Mt Stromlo and Tidbinbilla in the ACT. Our current creative interventions include the Inland Astro Trail, the Skywriters Project, the Wiradjuri Astronomy Project, the Wiradjuri Skywriters Pilot Project, and the Big Skies theatre production to be toured in 2019, the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I will be discussing these and other projects and will be inviting NACAA members to be involved. For more, please see bigskiescollaboration.wordpress.com and explore the drop-down menus.

Biography

Merrill Findlay is a writer and cultural development practitioner now based in Forbes, NSW. She grew up on a farm between two very significant astronomical sites, the iconic Parkes Radio Telescope and Seven Sisters Ridge, a Wiradjuri site associated with the Seven Sisters of the Pleiades. Both these sites and the communities around them have been inspirational factors in the development of the Big Skies Collaboration. Merrill has written several books (both fiction and non-fiction), many feature articles for the mainstream press, academic articles for international publications. She has a Masters in Social Science and a PhD in Communication. For more, see merrillfindlay.com