On 8 October the CSIRO Alumni once again hosted the annual Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall Memorial Address, the 24th lecture in the series. Dr. Brian Boyle, Director Australia Telescope National Facility, gave the Address -"Mining the Sky with the SKA" - an entertaining and insightful presentation on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).  It was a fitting presentation for the occasion, as the SKA represents everything that Sir Laurence Brodie-Hall saw as important - innovation, collaboration, education and pushing the boundaries of knowledge and human endeavour.

 

Dr. Boyle's address outlined the international project which aims to build this telescope by the end of the next decade, and described some of the transformational scientific projects that will be done with the telescope. He also described current SKA activities in Australia developments, including CSIRO's construction of the Australian SKA Pathfinder telescope at the Murchison Radioastronomy Observatory over the coming four years.

 

This year we moved the event 'off-site' to a larger venue -The University Club of Western Australia - to accommodate 250 guests which included astronomers, science policy makers, industry, regional and state stakeholders, some CSIRO staff and our Alumni. We were honoured that among the guests were The Hon. Ian Blayney, Member for Geraldton; The Hon. Barry House, Member for South-West Region WA, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Minister for Commerce, Science & Innovation, Housing and Works; Professor Lyn Beasley, University of Western Australia; Mr. Anthony Dann, Chairman, Wajarri Yamatji Native Title Claim Working Group; Professor Jeanette Hacket, Vice Chancellor Curtin University of Technology; Professor Don Markwell, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Western Australia; Emeritus Professor John De Laeter, Curtin University of Technology; Ms. Julie de Jong, WA Department of Industry and Resources and member of the Australian SKA Coordination Committee; Professor Peter Quinn, Premier's Fellow and member of the Australian SKA Coordination Committee; Dr. Jim Cullen, Chairman, CSIRO Alumni; and Lady Jean Brodie-Hall and her family.

 

Dr. Peter Lilly, Director, CSIRO Minerals Down Under Flagship and a member of the CSIRO Alumni Steering Committee, presided over the proceedings. Other speakers included Dr. David Bennett who welcomed guests and spoke of the history and importance of the Brodie-Hall Address to CSIRO and to the Alumni. We were also honoured to have the Reverend Sealin Garlett, a Noongar elder, give the traditional Welcome to Country to the gathering.

 

We have received many complimentary comments on the impressive presentation made by Dr. Boyle. Professor Lyn Beasley, from UWA and until the recent state election - WA Chief Scientist, said: "It was an absolutely memorable lecture and I think we will all remember this for many years to come....I think the SKA is an absolutely enormously important facility, it is something we must win in Australia because not only will it make a difference in radio astronomy but I believe in all science, I think it will make us the centre of all science for the next century. It's as important as that...."