As the site’s largest and most advanced telescope, the 74-inch reflector was the Observatory’s primary research instrument throughout its lifetime.

The 6-inch Farnham telescope was built in 1886 and donated to the Commonwealth by the estate of Lord Farnham in 1907. It was installed in 1928 in the original Commonwealth Solar Observatory building.

This reflector was originally built for the Melbourne Observatory in 1868 for visual (look and sketch) observations. In the 1990s the reflector joined the MACHO project to investigate one of the big mysteries of the universe – ‘dark matter’.

The Heliostat (or Sun Telescope) was completed in 1931 it became the site’s primary research instrument.

The 30-inch Reynolds telescope was the first reflecting telescope on Mount Stromlo and the largest operational telescope in the Southern Hemisphere until the 1950s.

The Oddie Telescope was donated to the Commonwealth in 1909, and established at Stromlo in 1911. The Oddie Dome was the first building on Mount Stromlo, and the first Commonwealth building in Canberra.

Built in 1955, this dome housed a 20/26-inch Schmidt telescope under the operation of Sweden's University of Uppsala.

The telescope moved to Mount Stromlo and recommenced operation in 1956.