National Science Week (9–17 August 2025) is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology, and this year’s theme, “Decoding the Universe: Exploring the unknown with nature’s hidden language”, couldn’t be more fitting for the Andamooka Opal Fields.
We were thrilled to welcome an ABC film crew to BOTH the Andamooka Observatory and the Woomera Observatory this week as part of a special feature for National Science Week. Under crystal-clear desert skies, we explored some of the most compelling stories from our region — from the discovery of Kakuru kujani (South Australia’s only known dinosaur) to the physics of opal formation and the way citizen-science projects are helping shape our understanding of the cosmos.
The ABC team captured day and night sessions, highlighting how communities in remote South Australia are contributing to global science. At Woomera Observatory, the crew filmed our deep-sky observations and outreach programs, while at Andamooka, they joined us for a hands-on opal and fossil session.
Stay tuned — the story will air during National Science Week and showcase why the Andamooka and Woomera Observatories are becoming known across Australia (and beyond) as places to experience real science in one of the world’s most extraordinary environments.
