Page 3916 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
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used - indeed, it is on a very popular tourist path for tourists visiting the ACT; it is a living and breathing tracking station - there should be a public display at the Tidbinbilla space tracking station which would include information on the involvement of the Orroral Valley and Honeysuckle Creek space tracking stations in space exploration.
A number of reports were submitted to the committee in relation to how the space tracking stations could be used, some verging on perhaps the ridiculous and some on the not so ridiculous. It was good to see community involvement as to how these sites should be used. The committee looked long and hard at the possibilities of these sites being used. However, there are a number of problems with their use.
Firstly, Orroral Valley was in a shocking state of disrepair due to vandalism and the ravages of time. There are also danger there, I think, in relation to asbestos, perhaps, and other noxious materials, that have to be taken into account. I think it was painfully obvious to those members of the committee who visited that site that it would be utterly impossible for that site to be economically refurbished. It really has been devastated, especially by vandalism, and that is, I think, a rather sad reflection. Honeysuckle Creek seemed to be in a sturdier state. However, there were also a number of problems there. It also had been subjected to vandalism.
There are a number of other problems common to both sites. Firstly, the electrical wiring is American and is incompatible with what we have here in Australia. It would cost a lot of money for those sites to be wired to Canberra's electricity supply. There are problems also with water and with sewerage. The buildings were unsafe, especially Orroral Valley. There was that non-Australian electrical system and a non-operable water and sewerage reticulation system. Accordingly, the committee decided to recommend that the Orroral Valley and Honeysuckle Creek space tracking stations be demolished in accordance with its recommendations contained in chapter 8. It saw no realistic future for the sites other than that. To refurbish them, or to rebuild on them, simply was not an option.
Dr Kinloch has alluded to the need to maintain history. Because of that the committee looked at some way, firstly, as I have indicated, of documenting what happened there - and that is where we came up with the Tidbinbilla idea - and, secondly, of having some commemoration on site. Hence the recommendation that at Orroral Valley parts of the wall be retained, up to 20 centimetres, as an indication of where that tracking station was. Similarly, with Honeysuckle Creek, the committee recommended that the wall, up to 20 centimetres high, be retained. There is also a recommendation for Mr Duby's department to look into whether parts of the shell could be maintained there
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