Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network university with an amalgamation between the Nepean College of Advanced Education and the Hawkesbury Agricultural College. The Macarthur Institute of Higher Education was incorporated in the university in 1989. In 2001, the University of Western Sydney was restructured as a single multi-campus university rather than as a federation. In 2015, the university underwent a rebranding which resulted in a change in name from the University of Western Sydney to Western Sydney University. It is a provider of undergraduate, postgraduate, and higher research degrees with campuses in Bankstown, Blacktown, Campbelltown, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Parramatta, and Penrith.
South Western Sydney is a region of the metropolitan area in southwest Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the predominantly working class area of Greater Western Sydney. The region lies in the Cumberland Plain.
Mount Annan is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mount Annan is located 60 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Camden Council and Campbelltown City Council, and is part of the Macarthur region. The Federal Electorates of Hume and Macarthur divide the Gardens.
Bryan Malcolm Gaensler is an Australian astronomer based at the University of Toronto. He studies magnetars, supernova remnants, and magnetic fields. In 2014, he was appointed as Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, after James R. Graham's departure. He is currently the co-chair of the Canadian 2020 Long Range Plan Committee with Pauline Barmby.
Macarthur is a region in the south-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The region includes the local government areas of the City of Campbelltown, Camden Council, and Wollondilly Shire. It covers an area of 3,067 square kilometres and has a population of close to 310,000 residents. The region geographically forms the foothills between the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands regions.
Appin is a town in the Macarthur Region in Tharawal country near its boundary with Gandangara country, New South Wales, Australia in Wollondilly Shire. It is situated about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) south of Campbelltown and 35 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of Wollongong.
Lisa Jennifer Kewley is a Professor and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3-D and ARC Laureate Fellow at the Australian National University College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Specialising in galaxy evolution, she won the Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy in 2005 for her studies of oxygen in galaxies, and the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy in 2008. In 2014 she was elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. In 2020 she received the James Craig Watson Medal. In 2021 she was elected as an international member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2022 she became the first female director of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) is the professional body representing astronomers in Australia. Established in 1966, it is incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory. Membership of the ASA is open to people "capable of contributing to the advancement of astronomy or a closely related field". This means that the members are mainly active professional astronomers and postgraduate students. Some retired astronomers and distinguished amateur astronomers are also members, and several organisations are corporate members of the society. The ASA currently has around 600 members. It publishes a peer-reviewed journal, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
Phillip John Costa is an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2007 until 2011, representing the electorate of Wollondilly. He served as Minister for Water and Minister for Corrective Services.
Campbelltown Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Campbelltown, New South Wales, south west of Sydney, Australia. It is a cultural facility of Campbelltown City Council, assisted by other government funding and private sponsorships.
Geraint Francis Lewis is a Welsh astrophysicist, who is best known for his work on dark energy, gravitational lensing and galactic cannibalism. Lewis is a Professor of Astrophysics at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy, part of the University of Sydney's School of Physics. He is head of the Gravitational Astrophysics Group. He was previously the Associate Head for Research at the School of Physics, and held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship between 2011 and 2015. Lewis won the 2016 Walter Boas Medal in recognition of excellence in research in Physics. In 2021, he was awarded the David Allen Prize of the Astronomical Society of Australia for exceptional achievement in astronomy communication.
Frederick Garnett "Fred" Watson AM is an English-born astronomer and popular scientist in Australia. He holds the role of Australia's First Astronomer at Large with the Commonwealth Government of Australia, relaying the important aspects of Australian astronomy to the government, the general public, and associated organisations.
Sidney Charles Bartholemew "Ben" Gascoigne was a New Zealand-born optical astronomer and expert in photometry who played a leading role in the design and commissioning of Australia's largest optical telescope, the Anglo-Australian Telescope, which for a time was one of the world's most important astronomical facilities. Born in Napier, New Zealand, Gascoigne trained in Auckland and at the University of Bristol, before moving to Australia during World War II to work at the Commonwealth Solar Observatory at Mount Stromlo in Canberra. He became skillful in the design and manufacture of optical devices such as telescope elements.
Jai Travers Rowell, an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Wollondilly for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2018. In April 2014 Rowell was appointed as Minister for Mental Health and Assistant Minister for Health during the Cabinet reshuffle under Premier Mike Baird. Under Gladys Berejiklian as Premier, Rowell was appointed as Special Adviser to the Premier and the NSW Government on Science, Industry and Innovation, a first of its kind. Rowell was the first Liberal Indigenous member of the NSW Legislative Assembly. Rowell has been appointed by Western Sydney University as a Fellow of Law.
Macarthur Astronomy Forum is a monthly public forum organised by Macarthur Astronomical Society, providing leading national and international professional astronomers with a platform to address the Forum on topics of astronomical interest; also providing members of the Society and the general public with opportunities to learn and ask questions.
Ragbir BhathalFRSN, FRAS, FSAAS was an Australian astronomer and author, currently based at the Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia. He is known for his work on Optical Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (OSETI). He did his Ph.D. in magnetism at the University of Queensland. He has served as a UNESCO consultant on science policy for the ASEAN group of nations, as an Adviser to the Federal Minister for Science and was the Project Director for the million dollar Sydney Observatory restoration building program. Bhathal also designed and built the twin dome Campbelltown Rotary Observatory at the WSU Campbelltown Campus and was Patron of Macarthur Astronomical Society from 1997 to 2011.
ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics was a collaboration of international astronomers dedicated to wide field astronomy. It was formally launched on 12 September 2011, at Sydney Observatory and ceased in 2018.
Warrick John Couch is an Australian professional astronomer. He is currently a professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. He was previously the Director of Australia's largest optical observatory, the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). He was also the President of the Australian Institute of Physics (2015–2017), and a non-executive director on the Board of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization. He was a founding non-executive director of Astronomy Australia Limited.
Campbelltown Rotary Observatory in Campbelltown, NSW, Australia was opened in 2000 and is owned by Western Sydney University. It consists of twin domes of 4.5m and 2.9m diameter. The patron of the Observatory was the late Sir Arthur C Clarke CBE. The Observatory Director (2000-2022) was the late Dr. Ragbir Bhathal. It was previously called UWS Rotary Observatory.
