The observatory is struggling, but BERNARD ORSMAN finds rescue plans are afoot.
The sky is threatening to fall in on the Auckland Observatory and Stardome, which offers visitors and experts the opportunity to look to the heavens.
Without a rescue package, the Stardome Observatory in One Tree Hill Domain will be forced to close and to cover-up its 500mm Zeiss telescope, one of the largest available for public viewing in the Southern Hemisphere.
Fortunately for the staff and volunteers who guide the Stardome's 53,000 visitors each year, the Auckland City Council sees the observatory as an educational and recreational facility worth saving.
Finance chairwoman Kay McKelvie says the observatory is not something the council can let die, and officers are seeking ways to secure its long-term future.
The observatory, which charges a $10 entrance fee, has asked for $180,000 next year, $100,000 the year after, and $80,000 in year three. This compares with a grant of $668,000 to the Maritime Museum and a $2.1 million subsidy for the zoo.
Since the $2.8 million planetarium opened for business in 1997 as the Stardome, the observatory has been left behind in the fierce battle for the leisure dollar by the likes of Kelly Tarlton's, Imax and the Sky Tower.
The council loaned the observatory $1 million towards the Stardome in 1995, a sum the then mayor Les Mills said would probably be written off. The council gave the observatory $50,000 last year for promotional purposes, and much of the extra money it is seeking is for that.
Acting chief executive Jim McPhillips says a lack of money meant a marketing plan didn't go ahead and the observatory is still a long way from being a "must-do" attraction.
Attendances have doubled since 1997 to about 53,000, half of whom are school pupils on subsidised Ministry of Education visits. This number is well short of the projected target of 64,000 for 1997, which was to rise in later years to 105,000.
To get by the observatory has had to dip into a $380,000 donation received in 1997 from a Hong Kong lawyer, Dr Po-Shing Woo, whose name now adorns the 34-year-old complex.
Mr McPhillips said the donation was intended for research, but had been used for running costs. The gift will dry up at the end of the year, given the forecast deficit of $82,000.
Mr McPhillips said Dr Woo was aware in "general terms" what was happening with his donation.
John Dunlop, the senior education officer, says the observatory has no problem wowing visitors with shows on the Auckland night sky and guided sessions on the Zeiss telescope, which has been used by 500,000 people since it was ordered in 1964.
"Astronomy is a funny thing. You see a change in people when they visit. They come to see how big the universe is and how small we are. It brings about a philosophical change and they go away calmer with a real sense of excitement."
That was the case for a Birkenhead couple, Sherman Waitai, who had always wanted to visit the observatory, and his fiancee, Dana Cross, whose initial interest level was less.
"It was something out of my comfort zone, but I found it really interesting," she said.
Californian tourists Lois Watson and Jack Adrichem found the observatory was the first place on a 10-week trip to Australia and New Zealand where they could pick out the Southern Cross from the Diamond Cross and the False Cross.
"There is not a lot for tourists to do at night apart from bar hopping and night clubbing and the Stardome is a great alternative ... most impressive."
Stardome
Shortfall veils planetary vision
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.