The Binar-1 CubeSat was built by Curtin University staff and students. Launched on 28 August 2021, the CubeSat’s journey around the earth lasted just over a year before it completed its last orbit on 1 October 2022.

SSTC staff prepared the engineering model of the Binar-1 CubeSat for transfer to the Archives. The purpose of the engineering model was to troubleshoot potential problems with the flight model before and after deployment.

Working with the SSTC team meant we developed a better understanding of the project artefacts and improved archival record description, arranging and housing the objects for posterity.

The Binar-1 CubeSat was launched to the International Space Station in August 2021 from the SpaceX CRS-23 resupply mission. It was then deployed into its own orbit on 6 October 2021 from the Japanese Kibõ module (see image above). This image was taken from the International Space Station by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The Binar-1 mission digital and physical objects are now stored to archival standards, ensuring the Binar-1 collection is now part of the State record and can be accessed as needed for activities such as displays or exhibitions.

A traditional Japanese Daruma doll was presented to the Binar-1 team by Curtin’s Japanese partner SpaceBD. A daruma is typically hollow, red, round and depicts the Indian monk Bodhidharma. Seen as a symbol of perseverance, it is also meant to encourage and help with goal setting. Upon receiving the Phase 3 Safety assessment approval from SpaceBD, the team coloured one eye of the Daruma then shipped it to the Curtin SSTC team. After deployment of Binar-1, the other eye was coloured in to finish the process.

More Binar missions are planned, and we will continue to capture these significant records to ensure Western Australians can access this part of our shared history. In years to come the collections will be a way of revisiting Curtin and WA’s early achievements in developing the capability, expertise and industries needed to access space.

This selection of images were originally taken by photographers in 1979-80 for publication in our early university journal The Reporter, created by the WAIT Public Relations Department. The Reporter documented the goings-on at the Institute across teaching faculties, student life and Bentley campus.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers should be aware that this story contains names and images of deceased persons.

The Guild Emporium, where you can get anything and everything on campus. This was likely in B103 facing Atkinson Forum, built in 1977. Today this building is still a retail service as ‘The School Locker’, providing stationery, books, branded uniforms and equipment that students require for their specific teaching discipline.

Library Studies students studying in a common room. The blackboard behind gives an insight into the activities on campus too. A smaller student body and physical campus than we have now meant leaving notes on the blackboard was obviously a successful method of communication.

6NR radio station was the home for community broadcasting programs in Perth when it was started in 1976 at WAIT. In 1979, Yamatji indigenous elder Vi Chitty was a regular broadcaster with her program ‘Wanju Banburru’. Along with Ken Colbung, Vi’s radio work created the foundations of Aboriginal Radio, later known as Noongar Radio which continues to broadcast today on 100.9FM.

The WAIT Theatre production company kicked off in 1972 and put on multiple productions throughout the year with WAIT students and professionals from the industry. 1979 saw the production ‘WAIT! On Revue’ – a revue show with a showcase of skits, singing and dancing. Note the WAIT logo on the white jumpers of two performers in the back row.

Above is documentation of the installation of a nature garden in the courtyard of the Guild precinct, and below is Edith Young, one of the WAIT gardeners on staff outside buildings 501 & 208 on the South end of campus.

A visit to campus nowadays always means sighting the large Curtin Stadium building built in 2013. Next to it resides the geodesic dome with a silver metal roof, which can be seen at the top of this image. It was built in 1977 and is still in use to this day.

WAIT had an annual Open Day so members of the community could visit each department and learn from staff and students about what studying there was like. Above is a look into the Department of Surveying, established in 1970 at WAIT and continues to be taught at Curtin University today. Note the student’s shirt that reads “WA Surveying Students Association, WAIT 1979”.

A major part of Open Day were the games, activities and performances scheduled, providing entertainment for the community.

WAIT Open Days were for the whole family, children included. A visit from Fat Cat in Atkinson Forum is a headline event.

Professor John de Laeter (right) of the WAIT Department of Applied Physics was instrumental in the discovery and study of the iron meteorite found near the Mount Manning ranges in 1979. John de Laeter was at WAIT from its beginning days in 1967 and later became Acting Vice-Chancellor in 1987, retiring in 1995.

The meteorite now resides at the WA Museum.

This kind of construction sign may be familiar in nature to Curtin staff and students: development and growth is always happening on campus to make way for new activities, students and spaces. This photo of a hand-painted road sign and somebody’s pet dog is a testament to the relatively small community WAIT was in its formative years compared to Curtin University today which has a systemised approach to the management of its campuses.

Sometime in the 1980s, Duncan Richards, a heritage architect and staff member, began acquiring the drawings and plans of Western Australian architects who it could be argued have left a sizeable imprint on the built environment of Perth and Western Australian towns and cities.

Richards’ intention was to develop a teaching/learning/research archive to support the professional development of students, new architects and enhance appreciation for architectural heritage of Western Australia.

Some of the drawings are examples of architecture student assessments from our days as Perth Technical College. By collecting student work, Richards provided a reference point for the later career work of these architecture graduates.

The description on the left side of this drawing on top completed by an architecture student notes “Department of Architecture, Perth Technical College, 1963”. The stamp on the bottom right corner reads “Western Australian Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, resource centre”.

Responding to Richards’ vision the following architects, gifted their own drawings and collections to WAIT/Curtin.
· Brian Klopper
· Raymond Jones
· Marshall Clifton (these were transferred to the State Library)

A number of other architects also transferred their drawings to WAIT/ Curtin.

This architectural drawing from 1936 by Harry Wraith-Downes (1917-1943) required significant conservation work to piece it back together and safely remove adhesive tape that had left stains.

Harry Wraith-Downes was a lieutenant in the Australian army in the Second World War. He sadly perished as a prisoner of war in 1943.

The majority of the drawings are in good condition, with small amounts of conservation treatment needed to repair small tears and unfold creases. Fortunately they are free of damage from sunlight, mould and insects.

Once archival conservation, description and cataloguing has been completed for each drawing, they will be ready to be digitised. This will allow the originals to be stored safely and access mediated with the digital files instead, preserving the fragile drawings into the future.

Surveying has a long history at Curtin. Two colleges in our family tree, Perth Technical College and the Western Australian School of Mines both taught surveying from their earliest days. Our first School of Mines surveying graduate was a World War I Anzac, Captain James Peat. Peat fell in action in Belgium in 1917.

An article in the WAIT Gazette (August 1968) describes the acquisition of a Geodimeter, “one of the most advanced instruments in the field… and a masterpiece of electronics”.  It was able to measure distances up to four miles and in darkness up to 15 miles.

A number of historical surveying equipment artefacts were transferred to the University Archives and were described, catalogued and treated, now part of the Department of Surveying collection. The University Archives holds a map of a section of the Swan to Canning River, charted by final year WAIT survey students in 1970. This map was the first surveying map of this area of water.

As technology has progressed the equipment and electronics may have changed, but the sight of the surveying students scattered around campus still remains synonymous with a visit to the Curtin during semester.

The shadow on the bottom right corner of the image is from building 201, and the Elizabeth Jolley Lecture Theatre and Norm Dufty Lecture Theatre (building 210) will be later built on the grass to the right in the early 90s.

The images were originally taken by photographers for publication in our early university journal The Reporter, by the WAIT Public Relations Department. The public relations department at WAIT is the equivalent of the University Marketing team today.

We recently sent a selection of these negatives to the Digitisation Centre of WA to have them professionally digitised for their long-term preservation, as well as to enable sharing and viewing of these unseen images.

The nature of 35mm film negatives is quite hardy as a physical medium, so good quality content reproduction has been obtained. Here are a few favourites of ours:

Behind them is a banner that reads “Life. Be in it.” This was part of a famous national health promotion campaign launched in Australia in 1975, designed and illustrated by artist Alex Stitt.

In 1979, WAIT had 11,995 student enrolments, less than half of which were full-time. For context, the first year of WAIT in 1967 had 2,891 student enrolments.

Eric Butterworth, Head of Social Work, discussing work prospects in the social work profession with students undertaking the ‘Aboriginal Bridging Course’ program, through the predecessor to the Centre for Aboriginal Studies, 1978.

The WAIT Charity Fair and TVW Channel 7 Telethon Auction (featuring children’s rides & games, crowds, country music performance, TVW 7 truck, Maori dancers), September 1979. They are sitting on the grass between buildings 101 and 201, before the John Curtin Centre was built.

There are mentions of a cat who roamed the university campus in the late 1970s, affectionally called ‘Lottie’ by staff and students. We love stumbling upon references to her and wondered whether this is an image of her in March 1978.

Almost 50 years ago in 1975, 79 students enrolled in the nursing course at a diploma level. In 1976, the formal accreditation of the nursing programme at the Bachelor’s degree level was achieved. It was recognised nationally as a significant and historical milestone in Australian Nursing. However, funding for the new degree was not made available by the Commission on Advanced Education CAE for several more years.  

The change in status was also response to the changes in Australian life and society. Nursing began to expand and develop in areas such as preventative care, community health, hospital practice, in rehabilitation and the provision of nursing care across all age groups. In these early years, WAIT’s Department of Nursing developed its teaching curriculum in response to these changes.

View a selection of the images we have been working on:

Studies in midwifery was part of the school but was not introduced as an undergraduate degree in its own right until 2008.

We have now processed 5 albums of physical photographs and negatives. The next part of the project will include accessioning born-digital photographs created from about the year 2006 onwards.

A look at the history of the School. Including interviews with current and former staff and students, and a look at some of our archival records Curtin School of Nursing 50th Anniversary film

These images, taken when we were the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) (1967-1987) offer a valuable insight into the evolution of education, research, student life and the development of a modern university and campus.

This digitisation project will take time as we reformat and embed images with as much contextual information as possible.

Read more about the WAIT historical photographs in collection 91.