A FASCINATION with light has illuminated John Fowler's life, writes SARAH HUDSON

In one way or another stars have always shone in John Fowler's life.

Since the day TV first began, way back in the '50s, he worked with such stars as Graeme Kennedy, Paul Hogan and even on events featuring the Queen and musicians at the Sunbury Music Festival.

These days, though, it's a different kind of star attracting the former TV lighting engineer and now astronomy enthusiast.

Together with his wife, Marianne, John has established the Lake Boga Observatory and Planetarium - and alongside is the Bogartz Glass Studio, featuring his glass art - all open to the public.

"(Themes) in my life have been stars, light and glass so the whole object was to fit in these ideas," says the 79-year-old. "My glass is a natural fit as glass was formed from the volcanic era, so it's related to the formation of the earth.

"And I just find the whole idea of astronomy fascinating. When you stand outside at night and find something you've never seen before, or when you look at Jupiter or the moon, there's a lot of satisfaction at looking at the amazing detail."

The observatory opened two years ago and has three GPS, satellite-controlled telescopes, including one of the largest in Victoria housed in a viewing dome, as well as a specially-designed, safe telescope for observing the sun during the day.

"The telescopes are top quality amateur ones. We can see anything hundreds of thousands of kilometres away. Having satellite tracking means you can follow the stars without having to move (the telescope) by hand, which, unless it's good quality, can be very difficult to do, as the stars move constantly."

For instance, the observatory can view the Jewel Box, a star cluster near the Southern Cross, which is 7500 light years away - (one light year is equivalent to 10 trillion kilometres).

Depending on the atmosphere, phase of the moon and time of the year, planets including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are visible, as well as nebula - an interstellar cloud - such as Eta Carinae.

"I'm not a scientist and there's a lot I don't know so when we give talks, they're not technical," says John.

"People are most interested in the staggering distances involved. Children ask a lot of intelligent questions. Many understand that stars die and they want to know when the sun will die."

Star-gazing is a relatively recent interest for John, whose only other planetary pursuit was as a keen sailor undertaking a celestial navigation course in the 1970s.

He does, however, admit to a lifelong love of light.

As a young man, he worked in lighting in professional and amateur theatre. So when television first came into Australian living rooms he became lighting director for Channel 9.

"I was there on day one, when the governor of Victoria opened the studio live to air. Like everyone else in TV at that time, I didn't know a lot about it."

His TV career lasted until 1986, and included Graeme Kennedy's In Melbourne Tonight - "I did it every night as long as it ran" - as well as Paul Hogan specials, the Royal Ballet, the Queen's visit to the Sydney Opera House and even the Sunbury Music Festival.

After a short stint in retail lighting, he headed to Swan Hill as the then shire's arts director.

Having worked most of his life in the city, the idea for the observatory came to him one starry night, while living at nearby Robinvale.

"We'd not lived in an area before that had a dark night sky. You get an amazing view of the sky up this way."

After moving to Lake Boga in 1995 for the sailing (when there was water in the lake), John studied telescopes, travelled to observatories and did a course in astronomy: "It was a long process, but basically I'm self-taught".

All the while he developed his glass art skills - also a recent hobby - particularly in slumping, which involves heating glass and then pouring and moulding into various artistic and functional pieces.

When he retired he dedicated all his energy to opening the observatory, with the aim being to attract tourists who come to the area for the lake.

"But we couldn't have opened at a worse time. We are right opposite the lake, a great position, but that died when the lake dried up."

While slowly business is picking up, John says he'll never tire of seeing stars.

"Lake Boga is not big and it's not near a big town so there's no light pollution. We really are well placed in this area for star gazing."

    CHECKLIST
  • Lake Boga Observatory and Planetarium and Bogartz Glass Studio, 136 Murray Valley Highway, Lake Boga, bookings essential.
  • Details: www.bogartz.com.au/ John Fowler's glass works can also be found at the Murrabit market on the first Saturday of every month.