Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2016
In April 1967 the British and Australian Governments agreed jointly to build and operate a 150-inch (3.8m) optical telescope on Siding Spring Mountain, 16 miles west of Coonabarabran, N.S.W., where the Australian National University has an established observatory. To direct the construction and subsequent operation of the new telescope it was decided to create a statutory authority to be known as the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board. Pending the formation of this board, the two Governments, acting through the Department of Education and Science in Canberra and the Science Research Council in London, set up a joint policy committee to initiate the project.