{"id":741524,"date":"2026-06-17T03:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741524\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T03:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T03:29:12","slug":"search-on-for-australias-first-chief-star-counter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/741524\/","title":{"rendered":"Search on for Australia\u2019s first \u2018Chief Star Counter\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A nationwide<\/a> search is underway this morning to find Australia\u2019s first \u201cChief Star Counter\u201d.<\/p>\n

The perfect candidate will work on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland<\/a>, which has just been named Queensland\u2019s<\/a> first international dark sky reserve.<\/p>\n

And for those interested in the role, Visit Sunshine Coast<\/a> CEO Matt Stoeckel told Today no prior experience is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to have counted stars before,\u201d he told Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd quite frankly we think when you look at the job description, the kids have one on the adults for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt said the lucky candidate will have responsibilities like wishing on shooting stars and assessing the night sky for its \u2019twinkliness\u201d.<\/p>\n

A dark sky reserve is something awarded by DarkSky International<\/a> and is awarded to places that can \u201cdemonstrate excellent stewardship of the night sky\u201d, according to Dr Ken Wishaw.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community here has been behind this for about six years and is very enthusiastic about it and it is a high bar to achieve but we have done it,\u201d Dr Wishaw said.<\/p>\n

The Sunshine Coast hinterland obtained dark sky reserve status because of its incredible view of the night skies and Matt said there are strict measures in place to ensure that clear view of the stars remains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really lucky we don\u2019t have to choose between growth and conservation,\u201d Matt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a dark sky reserve means we are protecting the dark skies and our beautiful starry nights for generations to come and to do it, there are some pretty simple measures\u2026 ensuring lighting just lights up the areas that need it, things like changing to the right light bulbs, or putting shields around street lights, all part of what it will mean to keep the Sunshine Coast hinterland a dark sky reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chief Star Counter role is a voluntary position and for those interested in finding out more about becoming Australia\u2019s first with the title, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nationwide search is underway this morning to find Australia\u2019s first \u201cChief Star Counter\u201d. The perfect candidate will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-741524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}