Charleville Cosmos Centre — Attraction in Charleville

I can't begin to describe how disappointed I was with the Cosmos Centre Experience for my wife and I. We originally booked a 'Small & Personal Tour' for $150 which was cancelled due numbers (minimum 4 / maximum 8 people). I'm not sure how much they think their time is worth, but $200-$400 per hour seems a bit excessive (i.e. 4 people at $75 each = $300 for one and a half hours). We were then offered (I think) the 'Big Sky Experience' but that was cancelled due to cloud. 'Plan B', in the Planetarium where the night sky is projected onto the concave ceiling, is the last resort (and I reckon it is the preferred option as everything gravitates to that and requires the least amount of work). All communications with the Cosmos Centre for our booking prior to arriving were great, they kept us well informed. However, the dialogue provided during the experience was excruciatingly inadequate. I believe there would have been 30 people last night so, just under $1,000 in ticket sales. For the centre to be receiving that much money for a one hour show and then provide poor commentary is reprehensible (there was lots of stuff). A 'Mares' (the dark splotches) on the moon were described as "hot stuff rising to the surface of the moon and cooling", the sun was made up of "hydrogen, helium and stuff", nebulas are full of "gas and stuff", the surface of Mercury was covered in "holes and stuff" from meteor strikes. Information provided should be factually correct e.g. we were informed that "Saturn's rings are 100 metres wide", I believe they are about 1,000 metres thick and many thousands of kilometres wide. The images were out of focus and to top it all off, the experience only lasted 35-40 minutes which was only extended to 45-50 minutes by repeatedly asking people what they wanted to take photos of. If the presenter is a paid employee, she should receive better training in regards to content and presenting/lecturing. The centre itself is ok, I think you can pop in for a visit and look at the displays for free, but would not recommend any of the...

Lots of information, and the museum is well set up. However, we had 2 major gripes with this place:

1. Despite a display about "Ancient Astronomers", we could not find a single reference anywhere to the significant astronomical knowledge of Indigenous Australians. This is a glaring oversight and a sadly missed opportunity.
2. We did the sun tour and relished the opportunity to use such specialised equipment and learn together as a family. However, the guide was not particularly knowledgeable. Sure, he knew his "script" but wasn't able to answer many of the questions that the group had. Instead of admitting this, he "fluffed" and confidently gave information and facts which didn't answer the questions at all. Our favourite "fact" was repeated twice in this context -"It's a scientific fact that you can do whatever you want to the climate because it won't matter in the end anyway". To be clear, he was referring to the sun getting hotter and brighter each year as it goes through its lifecycle. The comparative time scale of the impacts of our sun's lifecycle and the human impacts on our climate were lost on him - but not my 10 year old who angrily pointed it out. This was the point that we stopped listening to him and focused instead on viewing the sun. After this experience, we chose to do an evening sky experience elsewhere - which was run by an actual expert with lots of experience and...

Very disappointing experience. Advised by email at midday that it would all go ahead with telescope, to then arrive at 7.15pm and be told no, there's cloud cover and the "virtual planetarium will be really good, if not better" than the telescope experience. (?? Huhhhhh?)

Keys were forgotten to enter the planetarium (another wait), the guy even had a few choice words to say to other staff about the disorganised chaos!! When we finally started, the commentary was woeful and didn't flow at all!! The execution was shocking. We zoomed here and there, the entire audience groaned when it came to zooming in and out so quickly. And that laser! Whirling around unnecessarily in spins! Is there a runsheet?? A fact started to be given, then oh never mind, was mentioned.?? Extremely disappointed with the night. We were a group of around 18, so lots of money spent on something so amateur. I absolutely understand clouds affect the performance, and a refund was offered, but surely Plan B should be better delivered for the same price!? Especially when advised really good if not better! And to be sent an email at 12.09pm that day, that it's going ahead!

Staff were not excited or welcoming. No thank you goodnight when we returned the 'pillows' Such potential.... Yet so disappointed. Coonabarabran experience 💯 tops! Mount Cootha 💯 Charleville not so much!

Won't recommend....