Mount Stromlo Observatory is most famous for looking out into the universe, and studying stars, galaxies, and beyond.
However, to be able to see further and clearer, we need to build bigger and better cameras and instruments.
This is one of the things that has made Mt Stromlo Observatory stay at the forefront of discoveries for 100 years.
One of the parts of Mount Stromlo that is not well known is its role as an optical munitions factory during World War II.
Optical munitions are any device that uses a piece of glass, such as gunsights or navigating sights.
Mt Stromlo became the hub for designing and manufacturing precision optics for sighting telescopes, artillery and range finders, and many other devices.
The original plan was for the US and UK to supply optical munitions for the Australian and New Zealand defence forces.
But for a variety of reasons, this never happened. Eventually, Mt Stromlo stepped in.
In the '40s, Mt Stromlo was known as the Commonwealth Solar Observatory.
The Australian government turned to a variety of facilities to try and manufacture these critical devices.
The facilities needed to be able to build the precision optics needed for accurate aiming and ranging, as well as they needed to be designed and tested.
Mt Stromlo was unique - it was not only able to design these devices but was also able to manufacture and test them all on site, and then ship them out.
This made the site not only incredible good at it but allowed for mass production.
In all, over 25,000 pieces were designed, manufactured and tested, for the war effort. These devices only had a small marking noting where they came from.
For instance, a 1944-mark III 60 millimeter range finder for the 25 pound artillery gun used by Australia has the simple marking of C.S.O. - Commonwealth Solar Observatory.
To do this work, the observatory needed to grow.
Before World War II, there were only about a dozen or so staff on site. By the end of World War II, the site grew to more than 70 staff.
The main Observatory building was expanded, and new workshops were built to accommodate the staff and work.
European immigrants who settled in Australia after leaving Europe made up most of this increase in numbers.
People with a background in physics, science, and engineering were employed by the Observatory, and were able to help the war effort using their expertise.
This part of Mt Stromlo's history is a quiet one.
Records never made it to the National Archives, and so it was not really a part of the history at the War Memorial.
It was the engineers on the mountain who kept meticulous records that the sheer scale of the work was known.
However, it was a transformative part of Mt Stromlo's history.
When World War II ended, there was a large number of staff who were some of the best in the world at making optical devices.
The engineers and astronomers turned their sights on the universe - building the large telescopes that Mt Stromlo became famous for.
- Brad Tucker is an astrophysicist and cosmologist at Mt Stromlo Observatory and the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the ANU.
