Parkes Observatory is some 300km west of Sydney in the Central West of NSW, in the heart of Wiradjuri country. The site was chosen in 1956 for CSIRO’s largest radio astronomy project to that time, a 64-m fully-steerable parabolic dish commissioned in 1961 and still the largest dedicated “single dish” radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.
The site was selected to be distant from any large conurbation, for protection from terrestrial radio frequency interference (RFI), yet within relatively convenient distance of Sydney. Situated in a shallow and fertile valley about 20km North of the town of Parkes, it is screened from the town by a line of hills affording protection from terrestrial RFI,
Parkes Observatory sits in a shallow, fertile valley in the NSW Central West. Credit: Parkes Phoenix
Street address:
CSIRO Parkes Observatory
473 Telescope Road, Parkes NSW 2870
Postal address:
CSIRO Parkes Observatory
PO Box 276
Parkes NSW 2870
Australia
Reception: +61 6861 1722
Visitors Centre: +61 6861 1777
The Parkes telescope featured on the original $50 note issued in 1973 after Australia switched to decimal currency.
The choice of the site was supported by the local Shire Council at the time, and the telescope has become an icon of the Central West and of Australian science. It has been described as Australia’s most productive scientific instrument.
The Parkes Telescope was featured on the NSW vehicle registration label for the year 1986.
In 2020 the Parkes telescopes received Wiradjuri names from the Traditional Owners.
CSIRO Chief Executive Doug Hilton on the catwalk at Parkes on his first day with CSIRO, 29 September 2023.
