The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project is a global science and engineering project led by the international SKA Organisation, which is based in the United Kingdom.
The Australian SKA Office acknowledges the Wajarri Yamatji as the traditional custodians of the land on which the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory and telescope equipment are located, which will be the largest telescope in the world when it’s built. Pia Wadjarri neighbors Boolardy Station, Australia’s site for the SKA, about 320 km north-east of Geraldton in Western Australia and is home to around 70 people.
The Wajarri Yamatji community have played an important role in enabling Australia to secure the rights to co-host the SKA. In recognition of the Wajarri Yamatji people the SKA Office works closely with the remote Pia Wadjarri community to deliver community and economic development projects.
In August 2016, a group of schoolchildren from Pia Wadjarri School visited Canberra to experience the nation’s capital and celebrate National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day with local Canberra schoolchildren. Their trip including visits to the National Museum of Australia, the Australian War Memorial and a visit to the Deep Space Communications Complex at Tidbinbilla before experiencing snow for the first time at Corin Forrest.
The trip was the first time some of these children had been on a plane and certainly the first time they had been to Canberra. These activities ensure that as a result of the SKA the children and community is able to experience new activities.
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- Read more about Indigenous development in our department
- See our Reconcilliation Action Plan