THE HISTORY OF EARLY LOW FREQUENCY RADIO ASTRONOMY IN AUSTRALIA . 9 : THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA ’ S LLANHERNE ( HOBART AIRPORT ) FIELD STATION DURING THE 1960 s ‒ 1980 s

Beginning in the early 1960s, the University of Tasmania became very involved in low frequency radio astronomical studies, which was to continue into the 1980s. Although important low frequency arrays were set up at Penna and Richmond, the main location for this activity by the University was in the vicinity of Hobart Airport, known as Llanherne. This paper describes the work performed there at frequencies of 30 MHz and below, mainly for studying radio emission from Jupiter and the Galaxy. The largest of the installations was the Llanherne Low Frequency Array, a ~640 × 640 m antenna array adjacent to Holyman Avenue; it was well known to the public because of its high visibility to airport patrons. Other installations were set up closer to the airport runway. Various researchers, including Graeme Ellis, Hilary Cane and others, made observations at Llanherne.