From Heritage New Zealand, Summer 2009

by Bette Flagler

Wellington's refurbished Carter Observatory will introduce visitors to the heavens from a uniquely New Zealand perspective

Gordon Hudson is deservedly proud of the Cooke refracting telescope which will be one of the first things visitors see as they enter  Wellington’s Carter Observatory when it reopens early next year. It is in excellent condition, he says, completely operational and, at 150 years of age, one of New Zealand’s oldest astronomical telescopes.

Gordon refurbished the telescope and quite a few other pieces of equipment at the Observatory. He began working there in 2004 and presented planetarium shows and ran telescope programmes for visitors until the Observatory closed for renovation in 2007. Since then Gordon, president of the Wellington Astronomical Society and an active astronomer (he has an observatory at home where he researches asteroids and background stars), has stayed on as a contractor, refurbishing equipment and restoring artefacts.

When the doors once again swing open to the public, visitors will not only see evidence of Gordon’s handiwork but enter a fully renovated facility that honours New Zealand’s position on Earth. “When the revitalised Carter opens it will reflect and describe the New Zealand sky,” says Sarah Rusholme, director of the Carter Observatory. “It will tell the story of the universe from here. It’s about our view of the sky, especially those things that are unique to us. It’s about what we see from New Zealand and why that’s important; it’s about Western stories and Maori stories which will be told in parallel and will recognise and respect each other.”

Located at the top of the Wellington Botanic Garden, the Observatory was initially funded when its namesake, Charles Rooking Carter, a British-born Wellington contractor, businessman and politician,  died in 1896. He left approximately £2240 to the New Zealand Institute to start a fund for an astronomical observatory to be built in the Wellington area. The Institute – which became the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1933 – invested the money and by 1937 the funds had grown to approximately £12,400.

The Royal Society, government and Wellington City Council collaborated and a Carter Bequest Committee was established. The Carter Observatory Act was established the following year and it was agreed that an observatory be built; the Carter Observatory was opened on 20 December 1941 and in 1984 it was registered as a Category II historic place.

Charles’ bequest wasn’t the Observatory’s last; another notable one came in the 1960s when writer and philanthropist Ruth Crisp left behind funds which purchased a research-grade reflecting telescope.

Some interesting stuff has since been done on the hill, most notably research into asteroids, variable stars and galaxies. Over the course of the Observatory’s life, changes have occurred in its administration. The most notable were an amendment to the Carter Observatory Act in 1977, which designated it as the National Observatory of New Zealand, and a 2005 Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) review of its ability to carry out that function.

While historically the Carter Observatory had been active in research, its focus had recently shifted towards educational and visitor-centred activities and the MoRST review concluded that it was “not appropriate for Carter to retain its National Observatory status”. Following the review, a repeal of the original Act was introduced to transfer responsibility for the Observatory to the Wellington City Council and, while the repeal has not quite been finalised, in 2006 plans were announced to transform Carter into a world-class visitor attraction and astronomy education centre.

Enter Story Inc, charged with creating the exhibits, and the Wellington office of Jasmax as project architect. “We need to lead people through the science,” says Dean Cato, Story Inc director and project producer. But the concepts are difficult and Story Inc’s challenge, he says, is to make the science simple without being demeaning; presentations also need to be entertaining and meet the needs of tourists as well as school groups.

When the project began, Jasmax brought in the expertise of a heritage architect and discussed aspects of historical significance with the NZHPT. The interior of the building was of negligible significance, says Alistair Luke who headed the Jasmax team, and its approach to the exterior was to do as little as possible. The architect’s responsibility in a project like this, he says, is a base build: Jasmax creates the walls and weaves in service systems so that Story Inc can follow with the exhibition fit-out. But because a visitor’s journey through the building is part of the experience and how they navigate through the physical space is crucial to that, the early planning sessions involved the wider team of designers and architects from both companies as well as the Carter.

“There is a lot of science and many stories to tell,” says Dean, “and not a large amount of space in which to do it. If we want to keep heritage buildings, they need to be used and to have a function and to find an audience. They need to be brought back to life.”

One problem with the exhibition area was that the space had no insulation so it was extremely cold in winter and very hot in summer. On top of that, the interactive displays planned would pump huge amounts of heat into the space; the engineering analysis estimated that the temperature in the main exhibit area would exceed 35°C. That made insulation and air-conditioning obligatory but introducing services into a 1941 building was exceptionally difficult.

The focus on New Zealand’s sky engages overseas visitors. “Matariki and the Southern Cross, for example, are hugely significant to us as New Zealanders,” says Sarah. “And they are the kinds of thing people coming here really want to know about.” So, too, are appreciating the traditional use of stars for navigation and understanding the importance of the sky to our tangata whenua. Consequently, the refurbished observatory will have a gallery dedicated to cosmology (the “how did it all begin?” stuff ) where both the Western Big Bang theory and the Maori te kore (unorganised potential) concept are described and the area dedicated to navigation will include stories not only of Polynesian migration but also of James Cook and Abel Tasman and of how those in the Old World needed to come here to witness events such as the transits of Venus and Mercury.

While the brief to his company might have been to tell the stories of science, Dean takes a more philosophical approach. “I want to create an awareness of the sky. I’d like people to start looking up. Once people have a better understanding of the universe, perhaps they’ll have a better understanding of their community.”

Since Sarah was hired as director in March 2008, she has spent a good deal of her time fundraising for the nine-metre planetarium that was not part of the original renovation plan (the old planetarium measured six metres; this larger one will provide a more immersive experience, she says).  Raising the money has been a slog but the result will be worth it. “I am really passionate about science discovery centres and creating these sorts of opportunity,” says this former research scientist. “Our goal is to tell the stories of the southern sky from New Zealand’s cultural, heritage and scientific standpoints. That is brought to life because of this amazing, authentic and heritage backdrop of the Carter Observatory.”