Outback Astronomer

Born and raised in remote Broken Hill, Trevor Barry left school after year ten to work in the mines. Years later, a single glimpse of Saturn through a colleague’s telescope knocked Trevor’s world completely off its axis, turning his whole life upside down.

With his newfound passion and armed with decades of outback know-how, Trevor set about building an observatory in his backyard using bits and pieces from his shed, a second-hand washing machine motor, rainwater tank parts and an old catamaran wire. It took some canny negotiations with his wife, Cheryl, ‘the Gorgeous and Adorable’, whose prized garden took a battering – especially when he decided to add a second storey – but before long Trevor was not just gazing at the stars but capturing extraordinary images of the planets.

Over the years, Trevor’s love affair with Saturn, ‘the ringed jewel of the solar system’, only grew more passionate, and in his early fifties he did a degree in astronomy, topping his class. When he recorded a massive storm on Saturn from his backyard observatory, he alerted NASA. The world’s greatest space agency took note and invited Trevor to contribute to its interplanetary research – leading to opportunities far beyond Broken Hill and even Trevor’s wildest dreams.

Today, when he’s not tending the greens at his local bowls club, Trevor can usually be found in his backyard, collecting data for international research projects. His work is held in high regard by professional astronomers, and his observations are published in peer-reviewed scientific journals around the world.

Author Biography

Trevor Barry has called Broken Hill home his whole life. At 17, he started work in the local mines and built a good life there, married to his high school sweetheart, Cheryl, the Gorgeous and Adorable. But then Trevor fell in love again – not with Cheryl, but with a planet: Saturn. Just one look through a telescope changed his life forever. First he built his own telescope, and then an observatory – until finally, at 51, Trevor decided to gaze at the stars full time and enrolled at university to study astronomy. He now collects data vital to NASA research and is renowned for his extraordinary photographs of the planets.

For all of her working life Liz Hayes has been a journalist. Her career has traversed newspapers and radio but predominantly, television. Liz has spent over 40 years as a reporter and presenter for Nine Entertainment and in 2021 launched (as both anchor and Managing Editor) a new program, Under Investigationwith Liz Hayes. As a senior correspondent with Nine’s 60 Minutes, she has reported on some of the world’s most important stories in some of the toughest locations; from Afghanistan to Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, the Arctic Circle, and just about every country in between. She has interviewed world leaders in business, sport, entertainment and politics, and covered a diverse range of stories including US presidential elections; the human horror of the Syrian refugee crisis; the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan; and America’s nuclear conflict with North Korea.