A remote Indigenous community in South Australia are now the owners and operators of a stargazing facility in partnership with rocket launch company Southern Launch.
The Koonibba Observatory will allow tourists to understand more about Indigenous astronomy.
More than a dozen Koonibba community members have signed up to receive training from Southern Launch on how to operate the deep-sky telescope.
When Geraldine Ware was growing up in the remote Indigenous community of Koonibba, she would look up at the stars as Elders passed on the ancient stories of her people traced across the skies.
Now, her remote community in far west South Australia has opened a stargazing facility to help tell those stories.
The Koonibba Observatory was built in partnership with space services company Southern Launch and has a vantage point to view the existing Koonibba Test Range facility, about 40 kilometres north-west of Ceduna on SA's far west coast.
Ms Ware, now chairperson of the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation board, said it was exciting to think of the possibilities the facility would unlock for her community.
"We have got about 20 [people] to be trained up, so hopefully they'll get perfect at it, and then we can start our tourism in the future," she said.
