Kingaroy Observatory — Attraction in Taabinga

If you have any appreciation for the stars and the cosmos, you will love this amazing time with the one and only, Dr Jim. His passion for the stars and his extensive knowledge and experience result in an entertaining, enlightening and very informative event with many opportunities to view stars, clusters and galaxies through huge, high powered telescopes. It's a very humbling and inspiring feeling to see much more than we can with the naked eye and to realise just how immensely vast this Universe is. The Winter skies afforded us excellent conditions for the viewings, although it was extremely cold, around 1 degree Celsius. Remember, you are effectively 'outside' so dress very warmly, layer up including beanies etc.. and don't wear jeans - they are the worst thing for letting the cold in! Thoughtfully, there are blankets available so don't be afraid to use them. Book as early as possible so as not to miss out and ideally, spend at least 2 nights in Kingaroy to give you options in case the weather isn't favorable for star gazing on your 'booked' night. Fortunately, we spent 2 nights there so could transfer our booking from Wed to Thurs night. Thanks Dr Jim, can't wait to come back one day and experience all of that again in colour with your new piece of equipment as of around September 2025, and come away with our own photos! We all really enjoyed the whole event and definitely your company. Cheers,...

Hi attended the show on 30/07. Two adults and 4 kids, aged 9, 11 and 14. It was our first experience to see the Milky Way, nebulas, clusters of stars, and even Jupiter in a real telescope. Kids were amazed by all, especially by the shooting stars we saw and by the laser pointer James used during his lecture.

James was fun, entertaining and approachable, kids asked him a lot of questions. He knows a lot, so if you have any questions about cosmology, make a list!

The show began with arrival in the room with chairs, free coffee and biscuits where James showed us pictures of things he was going to show us today.

Then he led us to the observatory room: rectangular fenced room in the open air with three large robotic telescopes in it. The room has soft benches around it, so everyone was comfortably seated. There was a container with spare blankets for people who may feel cold (and we needed these as it is chilling in winter).

The show lasted 2.5 hours (where it should have been 2:) James was so nice that whenhe saw that Jupiter was high enough for us to observe, he extended time and allowed us to see it as well. Overall: great experience, may be a one in the life opportunity to show kids scale through a large real telescope and, moreover, the real scientist who loves what he is doing.

P.s.There is a toilet (clean and large) near (5 meters) the...

WOW, just WOW. What a fantastic experience. Dr James was an incredible source of information & a terrific bloke. His passion for the skies above was infectious and gave us a memory we'll always treasure. I booked this as the integral part of my daughter's 21st birthday presents (It was very astrology themed). We had one attempt to get a good night but we had cloud cover on our 1st attempt and got it right last night (23.7.23, just realised how cool that date is! Lol). My daughter just loved it. Highly recommend, and recommend staying the weekend at Kingaroy and spend time looking around this lovely little town. On this occasion, we did drive up and back (approx 3hrs each way) in one hit. Not that hard if you enjoy driving & you have someone/s to keep you talking on the drive home lol. Dr James was amazing and made sure my daughter (also ASD) was his main focus as it was her night. He ended our night with a spectacular view of Saturn, it didn't disappoint. We'll be back again to experience the universe when it's a bit warmer and planets that weren't able to be seen in winter will...