Black Mountain Tower, Television tower on Black Mountain, Canberra, Australia
Black Mountain Tower, also known as Telstra Tower, is a 195.2-metre telecommunications and lookout tower on the summit of Black Mountain in Canberra. Its concrete shaft rises from a three-storey podium, with a wider upper section holding an observation deck and two outdoor platforms. A ring of dishes and panels encircles the shaft below the enclosed cabin, and a lattice mast topped by a spire completes the structure.
In April 1971 the Postmaster General commissioned a feasibility study for a tower on Black Mountain to replace the Red Hill microwave relay station and the television masts on the summit. Protests on aesthetic and ecological grounds and a High Court challenge failed, and Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser opened the tower on 15 May 1980 as Telecom Tower. It was renamed Telstra Tower after the company's 1993 rebrand.
The tower's name changed with its owner: opened in 1980 as Telecom Tower, it became Telstra Tower when the company rebranded in 1993. Its revolving restaurant, Alto Tower Restaurant, completed a full rotation every 81 minutes and closed on 14 February 2013. Plans for the 2027/28 reopening say the revitalisation will reflect Ngunnawal culture.
The tower is currently undergoing renovations and is not open to visitors. However, the mountain itself is easily accessible with parking available and walking paths around the peak.
In 1989 the World Federation of Great Towers invited the tower to join the CN Tower, Blackpool Tower and the Empire State Building. Its revolving restaurant, Canberra's only one, completed a full rotation every 81 minutes before closing on 14 February 2013.
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