Location: 91–111 Glossop Road, Linden, 2778
Country: Darug, Gundungurra
LGA: City of Blue Mountains
Region: Blue Mountains
Website: wikipedia.org/wiki/Linden_Observatory_Complex
Map: below
Hidden in a clearing surrounded by native bushland at the end of Glossop Road, in the Blue Mountains village of Linden, is an astro-haven established in the 1940s by a remarkable engineer, amateur astronomer and telescope maker: Ken Beames (1899-1989). This complex of houses, workshops, sheds and a famous domed observatory is now owned and managed by a registered charity, the Linden Observatory Trust, and is listed on the NSW State Heritage Register.
The astro-site is also where members of Western Sydney Amateur Astronomy Group Inc. (WSAAG) meet to escape the light polluted nights of their hometowns and suburbs.
Captions
Top feature photo: Ken Beames’ 24″ Telescope, photo by Mary Ann Hamilton, 2017, File:1807 – Linden Observatory Complex – 30 (5061010b3).jpg, Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository.
Gallery photos: 1) Ken Beame’s private road into the isolated Observatory site. Photos 2, 3,4) the Observatory environment. Photo 5) The rear of Ken Beames’ observatory showing his adjoining shed. Photos by Merrill Findlay, 9 December 2024.
One of the Linden Observatory trustees, Ian Bridges, showed me over the site in December 2024. I was astonished by what I saw and by what Ian told me about Ken Beames’ achievements and long-term vision.
Ian knew Ken Beames really well. He started working with him when he was just fifteen-years-old and remained in contact with him until he passed away in 1989. So Ian has some great stories to tell! He’ll be sharing some of these on this website in his forthcoming blog post/memoir about Linden Observatory.
But let me tell you a little about the remarkable Ken Beames in anticipation of Ian Bridges’ blog post. Ken grew up on a farm near the small inland town of Gilgandra, in northern New South Wales. He left school at fourteen to become a telegram boy at the local post office. And then his life was irrevocably changed by World War I.
Captions
Ian Bridges shows me some of the treasures inside Ken Beames’ workshops and dome, on the benches and shelves, and in the drawers just as he left them. Photo credits: Merrill Findlay, 9 December 2024.
Like so many other country lads, Ken lied about his age and enlisted in the Australian Light Horse, one of the Australian Imperial Force’s (AIF) mounted infantry units. He served as a signaler in Palestine and, on returning home, retrained as an electrical fitter. He settled in Sydney, and, by the mid-1920s, had established the business he later registered as K. Beames Engineering Company. In his spare time, he studied optics and mathematics, and soon began building telescopes. But then another World War. This time, Ken remained in Australia and used his knowledge and skills to manufacture kit for the Royal Australian Navy.
His greatest achievement, however, was the 24” (61 cm) reflector telescope which now sits on a very strong platform under a custom-made rotating dome at Linden Observatory. A huge and complicated beast, which, for a while, was the biggest and best optical telescope in Australia! (I’m sure Ian will tell you more about this telescope and others on the site in his blog post.)
Captions
Ian Bridges, the Observatory building, and Ken Beames 61cm telescope. Photo credits: Merrill Findlay, 9 December 2024.
What Ian Bridges might not tell you though is that Linden Observatory is in great need of volunteers to catalogue the hundreds of cultural heritage objects Ken left for posterity; to maintain the site and protect it from bushfires; and to conserve and develop it as an educational complex in accordance with Ken Beames’ long-term vision.
Caption
One of the more recent additions to Linden Observatory used by Western Sydney Amateur Astronomy Group Inc. (WSAAG): details coming soon! Photo credits: Merrill Findlay, 9 December 2024.
Below: Orchison 1997, Ken Beames – Telescope Maker Extraordinaire, British Astronomical Association Journal 1997, vol.107, no.2, p.83-87.
If you can’t wait for Ian’s post on this website, you can get inspired by Ken Beames and Linden Observatory with the following publications.
Linden Observatory homepage >>
Linden Observatory Complex, Wikipedia
Wayne Orchiston, 1989, ‘Linden observatory, New South Wales: one man’s dream,’ in the Australian Journal of Astronomy, 3;2, pp. 63-74.
This post is a stub waiting to be extended. If you have expert knowledge or lived experience of this site and would like to write about it, please read our authors’ Guidelines and Contact us.
Getting to Linden Observatory: Turn off the Great Western Highway to the village of Linden, and follow Glossop Street to the Observatory site a couple of kilometres out of town.
Post created 6 December 2024. Last updated 22 April 2025.