Things looking up for Dark Skies group

Otago Daily Times

05-07-2025

Protecting the sparkling Hāwea skies has become a priority for one star-struck resident.
Danny Mollan moved to Lake Hāwea seven years ago with his wife and quickly fell in love with the dark skies of his new home.
Having worked in IT for most of his life, his journey into astronomy began with a pair of binoculars and a clear sky.
He soon found himself attending astronomy courses in Alexandra and consulting local astronomers to learn more about the views he was seeing.
"It's a sort of new thing for me," he said.
"The catalyst was moving here and looking up. It's pretty addictive."
About two years ago, Mr Mollan made connections with groups across the region including the The Tāhuna Glenorchy Dark Sky Sanctuary, which was recognised internationally as a dark sky sanctuary earlier this year.
This inspired him to set up the Hāwea Dark Skies group a month ago with the help of volunteers and in affiliation with the Hāwea Community Association. The idea behind the group is to achieve recognition from United States-based DarkSky International.
The non-profit has different classifications for different locations including dark sky communities, parks, reserves and sanctuaries.
Dark sky sanctuaries are considered some of the most remote and darkest locations around the world.
Mr Mollan said they were still unsure which classification they would aim for but the overarching goal was to get some recognition and protection for the Hāwea dark sky.
The first step in achieving this was generating support from the community, which Mr Mollan was confident about.
Last Saturday, Mr Mollan started spreading the word to the wider community by making an appearance at the community connections event.
The event was a casual gathering organised by the Hāwea Community Association for residents to meet, chat and connect with one another.
He said everyone he spoke to took interest and supported the project, especially those who were invested in protecting Hāwea's environment.
"All the people who are sort of working on any aspect of environmental preservation in Hāwea, the stakeholders group, the guardians of the lake, they're all very strongly supportive."
As part of the protection for dark skies, it would limit artificial light which can be disorienting to biodiversity such as some birds and insects.
Mr Mollan also felt it was great for tourism in the region and would draw like-minded national and international visitors to Hāwea.
"It attracts a really nice form of tourism. The kind of people who do dark sky tourism, they're here because they are admiring the beauty of the area.".
Once the group had enough community support, the next step was to map out the location that would be part of the protected area and then begin taking measurements to understand how dark the sky actually was, he said.
This would be done in consultation with scientists, the Queenstown Lakes District Council and groups such as Winterstellar Charitable Trust who work across New Zealand to foster interest in dark skies.
This would then go towards informing a draft proposal to DarkSky International.