THERE is a certain magic to be found in the dead of night.
Away from the hustle and bustle, from city lights or town streets, where it's still and dark, and you can look up and see millions of lights dancing in the sky above.
Illuminating you, your mind and reminding you of the vast nature of our universe.
In this moment it's impossible but to feel anything but small and connected somehow to the world in a bigger way.
But this sense of awe, wonder and privilege to see the cosmos is under threat, as the world gets brighter and light pollution becomes a bigger problem.
One company is on a mission to combat it, to show local communities how they can contribute in a positive way to keeping the skies dark, potentially attracting a new stream of tourists in the process.
Astrotourism WA was founded by Carol Redford who has serendipitously bumped into the career of being the night skies ambassador.
With a background in marketing and advertising, she first fell in love with how special the Western Australia night sky is while owning and operating the observatory near Gingin between 2007 and 2012.
"That's where I met the night sky and it was a privilege," Ms Redford said.
"You could stand there night after night listening to the astronomy guides talk about the night sky, from a science point of view and the stories involved.
"We had the amazing Dr Noel Nannup who would come and do Aboriginal astronomy nights, he would interpret the Aboriginal night sky for visitors."
Spending 10 plus years in regional economic development at the Wheatbelt Development Commission, Ms Redman combined her passion for regional towns and the stars in the culmination of Astrotourism.
Although a business of this nature almost seems like a no-brainer, no one is currently running a program like it in Australia.
"It's quite new in Western Australia for us to be thinking about this but we're an ideal place for it," she said.
Light pollution is an increasing global problem, with many people in the world not able to see one star or even the milky way.
Compare that to here in WA where many of us can take a short stroll off our porch, or drive just out of the city and see billions of them.
Ms Redford approached local governments in the regions who were also working on wildflower tourism projects and discussed the idea of how dark sky tourism could work in their towns.
She was overwhelmed with the positive response she received, with 16 local shires all involved and funding the project.
The towns currently included are Bindoon, Carnamah, Cervantes, Darkan, Lake Grace, Mingenew, Morawa, Narembeen, Narrogin, Northam, Onslow, Perenjori, Three Springs, Wickepin, and Wongan Hills, along with the Shire of Ashburton.
Depending on what each council wants, Ms Redford hosts information nights, educating the shire on best practice when it comes to reducing light pollution.
Things such as pointing lights down, rethinking what actually needs to be lit, along with switching to dark sky approved LED lights.
She also hosts star gazing nights for the local towns.
"I most recently held a community stargazing event in Tom Price which was fantastic," Ms Redford said.
"We had 30 people from the local community that came out, we had red light torches and the telescope going, it was really good fun.
"It's a great opportunity for me to talk to the communities about how special the night sky is, the global light pollution problem and the importance of protecting it for the future."
Ms Redford said 80 percent of the world's population experienced light glow and about two billion people can't see the Milky Way that we have access to at night.
Because of this light pollution she is on a mission to make WA the star gazing capital of the world, with education, events and opportunities to experience what she hopes will continue to be one of the darkest places on earth.
"The International Dark Sky Association is the governing body and has a program to create dark sky places.
"There are a whole series of guidelines and checks and balances that you have to prove for you to be named an international dark sky place.
"I am working with Tourism WA and regional tourism organisations like Australian Golden Outback to further dark sky tourism and eventually create internationally recognised dark sky locations."
With accommodation availability one challenge to face and events such as stargazing nights or dinners under the stars yet in place, they still have some work to do before astro tourism can really take off in WA.
However for now there are still some impressive spots people can checkout if you head to the website and look at the list of excellent stargazing locations.
"Just east of Perenjori is a place called The Salmons and it's amazing, you can stand in the dark, in the silence and you're surrounded by this ancient landscape, with ancient stars overhead, you feel the wisdom and can feel so connected," she said.
"It speaks to you, that is an amazing feeling, as long as you can just get over that initial feeling of, this is really scary.
"I think especially after COVID, WA and experiences like this are something that visitors can be a part of to almost reset their souls."
Astrotourism seems well-positioned with the Department of Planning issuing a dark sky and astro tourism position statement in January this year.
"Basically it's a light management plan that's going to set the direction for statutory planning in the future," she said.
"Any new developments, residential or commercial, will have to consider not just the environment on the ground but the environment of the night sky as well."
Ms Redford encourages anyone to get in touch with their local government about making their community a dark sky destination.
"There's nobody else doing this in Australia, no one working with as many local governments," she said.
"It is so important to remember the space, freedom and the connection to the big environmental assets that we have.
"It's a big universe when you're standing out there - you remember your place, you remember 'oh yeah, that's right I'm just a little speck, on a little rock, orbiting a little star, which is one of hundreds of billions of other stars'.
"It can be overwhelming at first but once you get used to it, it's breathtaking."
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