Australian astronomy has undergone huge changes since the middle of the twentieth century, when astronomers generally only had access to the observing facilities of their own institution. In this paper, we look at the changes in the context of the membership of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA), since its formation in 1966. Initially, the dominant institutions were the Australian National University, the University of Sydney and the CSIRO, with each of these having more than twice the members of any other Australian institution. Access to world-class national facilities provided by the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT, an optical telescope) from 1975 and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA, a radio telescope) from 1991, led to increases in astronomer numbers at institutions other than the three dominant ones. More recently, to stay internationally competitive, astronomers need access to even larger observing facilities. One of these facilities is the Square Kilometre Array project (SKA). This radio telescope is to be split between Southern Africa and Australia with SKA-Low, observing in low frequency radio waves, to be sited at a remote location in Western Australia. That plan, and two new SKA precursor instruments, has boosted the number of astronomers in the state, making Western Australia one of the major centres of astrophysical research in Australia.

自 20 世纪中叶以来，澳大利亚天文学发生了巨大的变化，当时天文学家通常只能使用自己机构的观测设施。在本文中，我们研究了自 1966 年成立以来澳大利亚天文学会 （ASA） 成员身份的变化。最初，占主导地位的机构是澳大利亚国立大学、悉尼大学和 CSIRO，每个机构的成员人数都是澳大利亚任何其他机构的两倍多。1975 年的英澳望远镜（AAT，一种光学望远镜）和 1991 年的澳大利亚望远镜紧凑型阵列（ATCA，一种射电望远镜）提供的世界级国家设施的使用，导致三个主要机构以外的机构的天文学家人数增加。最近，为了保持国际竞争力，天文学家需要使用更大的观测设施。其中一项设施是 Square Kilometre Array 项目 （SKA）。这台射电望远镜将在南部非洲和澳大利亚之间分配，SKA-Low 将在澳大利亚西部的一个偏远地区进行低频无线电波观测。该计划和两台新的 SKA 前体仪器增加了该州天文学家的数量，使西澳大利亚成为澳大利亚天体物理学研究的主要中心之一。