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JUDITH Bailey fondly remembers helping her horticulturalist father as a child.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe grew flowers and I loved them. There was nothing more beautiful than sitting in a row of poppies, picking them, or cornflowers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved the environment and been fascinated by plants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Living on large properties, the space around and above Ms Bailey has kept her curious.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first memory of the sky is when I was walking home from school and I observed a cold front moving in from the south,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have only been in kindergarten. I thought a blanket was being pulled over and night was going to come. That\u2019s how I interpreted the solid bank of cloud slowly coming in.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven at a young age, I was observing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Training as a teacher, Ms Bailey later worked in home care and with disabled children, but as a lifelong learner, her real passions have been nature and space.<\/p>\n
In these love affairs, she\u2019s found communities.<\/p>\n
Nominated as one of Zonta Ballarat\u2019s Great Women for 2020, Ms Bailey lives a volunteer lifestyle which expanded following a most challenging human experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1991, we lost one of our children,\u201d she said. \u201cGrief is a peculiar thing and through grief, you have to have a focus. I knew that in myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you suffer a situation like that, the best way to work with it is to throw yourself into something and that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Already a member of the Ballarat Astronomical Society, a green-thumbed Ms Bailey joined the Friends of the Ballarat Botanical Gardens.<\/p>\n
One of the group\u2019s first ever growing convenors, she is a life member, past president and former secretary. When Friends of the Buninyong Botanic Gardens launched, she committed to them.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s secretary of the International Dark-Sky Association Victoria, administrator for the Friends of Lake Wendouree Natural Environment and president of the Clarendon Community Hub.<\/p>\n
Also part of the Ballarat Field Naturalists, Ms Bailey is in Friends of the Canadian Corridor, Bird Life Australia Ballarat Branch, Friends of Brisbane Ranges and Buninyong Historical Society.<\/p>\n
But within the last 35 years, Ms Bailey has given most of herself to the Ballarat Municipal Observatory and Museum site. Essentially, its management is her forte.<\/p>\n
A \u201cjack of all trades,\u201d she replenishes hand towels, sweeps paths, takes bookings, gives lectures and runs viewing nights, but there are some achievements she\u2019s especially proud of.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe secured Steven Slater who was the archivist for the Apollo 11 movie. He came along to Ballarat last year for Science Week,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1999 the Federal government announced community grants… We thought building a telescope with disability access would be the way to go and Barry Adcock volunteered to design it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2001, the Federation-Adcock telescope opened after two years of construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the first disability telescope in Australia, it\u2019s fantastic. It was a tremendous, satisfying project because it\u2019s brought the observatory into equal access for all,\u201d Ms Bailey said.<\/p>\n
Partnerships with Swinburne University, and the Ballarat International Foto Biennale have also been a highlight, encouraging disciplines to cross in harmony.<\/p>\n
Soon, she will step back from management duties on Mount Pleasant, but not from observing.<\/p>\n
There\u2019ll be more time for gardening, piano, reading, and watching wildlife. A hunger for knowledge will be fed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t use your brain, you lose it. One should always strive to find out more. Keep your mind open to new ideas and try to find out from the primary source,\u201d Ms Bailey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moon is just sitting in space, there\u2019s nothing propping it up. To look through a telescope and have that first-hand experience, it\u2019s a primary source.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps to ground people and understand the enormity of space. It gives me a lot of satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JUDITH Bailey fondly remembers helping her horticulturalist father as a child. \u201cHe grew flowers and I loved them. There was nothing more beautiful than sitting in a row of poppies, picking them, or cornflowers,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved the environment and been fascinated by plants.\u201d Living on large properties, the space around and above […]<\/p>\n