Six reasons Parkes packs a surprising punch

By John Rozentals
Updated April 23 2018 - 1:58pm, first published 12:42pm
The Dish … a fine movie has ensured Parkes’s immortality.
The Dish … a fine movie has ensured Parkes’s immortality.

1. Gawk at the Dish

Parkes has had The Dish — aka the Parkes Radio Telescope or the Parkes Observatory — for very nearly 60 years and it’s certainly true that it played a crucial role in covering the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. But it really didn’t become iconic until a film called The Dish was produced in 2000 with Parkes’s role in that coverage as main focus. The movie may have been largely fictional but The Dish was front and centre from that moment on. It was a well made, huge hit, and with stars such as Sam Neill and Tom Long really couldn’t go wrong. I’m told by my cab driver that you certainly can’t play cricket in it, but that they certainly did override the safety mechanism that would have prevented it fulfilling its Apollo 11 coverage because of high winds. It’s about 20 miles from Parkes but well worth the drive to see a piece of history and perhaps have a bite to eat in the café that overlooks it. Visit www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au

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