A satellite-tracking antenna - a significant reminder of Australia's involvement in early space research and development - has been officially listed as a heritage object by the Territory Labor Government.
The parabolic dish antenna was one of five with an 'XY' tracking axis mount, originally installed at the Gove Down Range Guidance and Telemetry Station at Gulkula, under a program led by the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO).
The antennae were used to track the downrange path of rockets launched from Woomera in South Australia as they passed over the Northern Territory.
The station also included two other antennae; three vans filled with computing and recording equipment; and a building containing optical calibration equipment.
At the conclusion of the project in the early 1970s, most of the antennae were relocated to a defence facility near Adelaide.
The Arnhem Land Historical Society began lobbying for the return of the once state-of-the-art technology and, following more than a decade of negotiations and fundraising, the sole remaining 20-tonne antenna was finally returned to Gove from its South Australian graveyard.
The Arnhem Land Historical Society is now planning to reassemble the antenna on the grounds of its heritage site, about 20 kilometres north of the original telemetry station.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Chansey Paech:
"ELDO's satellite launch program was considered a spectacular and technically complex activity in Australia, particularly at the Gove Down Range Guidance and Telemetry Station.
"This is a unique and fascinating part of our history that shows that the Northern Territory is, and has always been, a strategic location for space exploration.
"The permanent declaration of the ELDO Satellite Tracking Antenna in Gove as a heritage object is a significant step towards preserving and protecting the Territory's history as it will now have the full protection of the Northern Territory Heritage Act 2011.
"Members of the Arnhem Land Historical Society, supported by the local Gumatj Corporation, worked determinedly over many years to return the ELDO antenna to its original site and are committed to its conservation."
Quotes attributable to Arnhem Land Historical Society President Maria Robbins:
"On behalf of the Arnhem Land Historical Society, owners and custodians of the only surviving ELDO antenna, we are proudly supportive of this important part of our local space history being permanently declared as a heritage object to ensure its preservation for current and future generations."
