On January 18, 2003, a huge bushfire hit Canberra and Mount Stromlo. The observatory was surrounded by a plantation pine forest. Five telescopes, workshops, seven homes and the historic administration building were destroyed. The only telescope to escape the fires was the 1868 15-centimetre Farnham telescope. Some items from the fire are on display in the National Museum of Australia. They include a melted telescope mirror and a piece of melted optical glass (flint). The latter has pieces of charcoal and wire fused into it from the fierce heat of the fire.
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