Gravity Discovery Centre

The Gravity Discovery Centre is an interactive science facility with a particular emphasis on gravity in all its forms—whether in the context of space flight, wave propagation, or Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.

There are numerous hands-on exhibits, though unfortunately, some were not operational during our visit.

While the Centre features public displays, its primary focus is research—specifically into the science of gravitational wave detection. These waves, predicted by Einstein’s mathematics, remained undetected until 2015. The Centre itself doesn’t detect gravitational waves directly but instead contributes to research that supports other institutions in improving their chances of detection.

Compared to my visit a decade ago, the Centre felt a little dated. Perhaps I was expecting too much after the excitement of my first visit—or perhaps, having learned so much more about the subject in recent years, the exhibits no longer held quite the same thrill. I’m not entirely sure.

The Centre consists of four main areas:
• The Discovery Hall – home to many interactive displays,
• The Cosmology Gallery – which was freezing during our winter visit (and reportedly stiflingly hot in summer),
• The Leaning Tower of Gingin – a 45-metre-high structure where you can drop water-filled balloons to replicate Galileo’s experiments (and enjoy spectacular views),
• The Scaled Solar System Walk – a beautifully conceived outdoor installation. Be warned: Pluto is located 1.2 km from the Sun!

Despite some maintenance issues and ageing infrastructure, I still strongly recommend the Gravity Discovery Centre as a rewarding and thought-provoking day out—especially for those with a keen interest in science.

Just needed to test, at 70, if I could get to the top . Success. Fun couple of hours. Lovely lady at reception

Blew our mind, not what we expected. Climbing the 200 steps was a challenge, but we did it. The plus was dropping different size balloons down, and watching them burst, the landed at the same time!

A great experience led by multiple seriously eccentric over the top nerds of the highest order. It was awesome to see through the many telescopes and also to conduct your own Galileo gravity experiment from the massive tower, wander through the exhibits and the discovery centre. There is also an option to preorder dinner if you have the time. There is also a scale model of the solar system to walk along. Well worth a visit.

amazing experience really worth it, the long stair climb up the tower to drop water ballons is to be savoured. the night sky experience was so good. nearly 3 hours of telescope star watching with utterly proffesional and knowledgablr guides. we will be going back, next time when there isnt a full moon !

Pretty fun experience. The view from the tower is awesome. I highly recommend the night time observatory tour, the staff taking it were great, very informative and entertaining.

Ah, the Gingin Gravity Discovery Centre—a timeless attraction… quite literally, because it hasn’t changed in twenty years. Walking in felt like stepping into a time capsule, where everything is exactly as it was when I last visited as a kid—right down to the broken exhibits and faded signs.

The most fascinating thing there? The front desk attendant’s face when we arrived—pure shock that anyone actually came. You could almost hear her thinking, “Wait… people still visit this place?”

As for the interactive exhibits, let’s just say gravity isn’t the only thing that’s given up here. About half of them didn’t work, and the ones that did felt like they were hanging on for dear life.

If you love low-budget nostalgia, malfunctioning science, and the thrill of wondering if an exhibit will actually turn on, this is the place for you. Otherwise, you might get more of a scientific experience by dropping your phone and watching gravity do its thing in real time.

I discovered gravity
No apples were harmed

Nah it was actually cool there
And you get a free rebooking if the original day is cloudy which is pretty cool

(The smoke cannon is very fun)

Okay, but not in a hurry to return. The tour was included in entry price, but not compulsory, however it was required if you want to see the telescopes and do the leaning tower water balloon experiment. However the tour guide was not very knowledgeable and it was at least an hour too long, especially for my kids, we stuck it out because the telescopes were last and my 6yo wanted to see them. But it would have been a sufficient tour if it was solely limited to those two things not readily accessible without the tour (tower and telescopes) and then leave the patrons to explore the cosmology museum and discovery centre on their own. The discovery centre was great fun for the kids, and the timeline and displays in the cosmology museum interesting for the adults.

Got here late afternoon, the tour had closed, well visit again next time. Would also be good for night observatory exhibition

The Night Tour was fun, good learning experience, and interesting to listen and watch. The tour guides were very knowledgeable. However at some points, our main guide talked very fast, so the information wasn't as clearly articulated to the attendees. Maybe some reinforcement of appropriate science communication techniques should be an option for the guides. All in all, It was a great adventurous date night activity!

We've visited the GDC before of course, but this was the first time we'd done one of the astronomy tours. Highly recommended, you have the run of the interesting displays. You can wander up the leaning tower and replicate a famous experiment, and then, when night falls attend an interesting talk on the wonders of the night sky, then walk up the hill and into the actual observatory. They can even do you dinner, the gluten free nachos were pretty yummy! Thanks, and look forward to seeing you again!

Tonight was my first time coming to one of the night observatory tours and I’m so impressed! our guide Rick was absolutely AMAZING. I’ve worked in service for many years and he was just spectacular. He knew everything he was talking about, added some humour and was so easy to speak to!!
Definitely coming back. 10/10 experience. Id definitely suggest going on a clear night though:) we went on a cloudy night and because its cloudy they gave us a free pass to come back when its clearer which is so generous🌑💫

A really nice, interactive, medium size science centre. The staff are friendly and helpful. And eager to explain the stuff there. We enjoyed the leaning tower doing Galileo experiment with water balloons. Must visit if you are in the area.

Loved it! Kids not only had a blast dropping the water balloons, but also explored all the hands on & interactive exhibits. Plus, the friendly and engaging staff. Definitely worth the trip. Make it even your destination!

We recently visited the gravity centre and we were pleased with how many activities you can do before the night tour and how informative everything was. The only thing I could suggest is during the night tour there was ladders provided for children, but a lady in a wheelchair could not access the telescopes due to the eyepiece being high up. It would be cool if there was a removable ramp for people in wheelchairs so they can also access the telescopes to see what we could see on the night. Other than that it was spectacular ????????

Amazing views with a good size garden perched up high overlooking the beach below. Well priced food which hits the spot. Friendly staff and reasonable selection of beers ????

A short drive from Perth the Gravity Centre is a great alternative to the SciTech experience. The interactive school holiday rocket making workshop was great. Kids loved it and the presenter was awesome. We ended up spending a few hours seeing and touching the different interactive science displays. Lots of great potential for little Einstein's to get lost in the many different displays.

Mind blown This place is an absolute hidden gem. I love science, but this place brought out my inner child. Rick gave our group a tour, explaining how gravity works.. which I have heard so many times, but he managed to do it in a way which made so much sense and completely captivated us all. I wish I'd had more time to fully explore, and I will definitely be back next time i'm in Western Australia! This was an experience I won't forget and highly recommend.

Very happy with the night sky viewing. It's been a while since we saw that many stars. Different season will give you different view of the night sky (milky way is only visible during winter months if I'm not wrong). Excellent staff here too; from the friendly waiter at the cafe (he is probably close to retirement but still have the spirit of a 20yo) to the astronomer who gave us engaging presentation on the galaxy. He also didnt hesitate to tell some people off because they kept using their phone and disturbed the others (i was very close to tell these people off myself too). We will definitely be back. Booking in advance is highly recommended.

It was a shame that not all the activities were working. The microscope area could do with a revamp & more up-to-date slides made. It was an enjoyable experience.

Rick and Mitch are the real stars of this place. It was amazing to be in their presence and listen to them speak about astronomy! They are so passionate and really interactive. Definitely worthwhile going to do a tour with these two presenting. Will definitely be back sometime!

Great place to stop with kids, don’t miss the cafe for lunch This was a fun couple of hours. We took our 3 and 6 year old and they had a great time, and the cafe food was excellent. The staff were enthusiastic and knowledgeable.Would recommend stopping on way to places further north, I don’t know if I would make a dedicated trip from Perth just for the museum.

Awesome place well worth the trip out! A wealth of information and fun ways to engage the kids.

Discovery centre tours. Did tour on Friday night, which included information on what Aboringinies see in the sky. Noel Nunup was the speaker and was only interested in culture awareness, spent about 1 minute in the hour talking about the sky, did not pay for him to whine. Should have walked out, I know several others would have as well.
The rest of the team and the tour was fantastic.
Recommend getting there 3 hours or more before the tour, to enjoy the information and activities and even have dinner first, food was excellent.
Will be going again at different time of the year to view a different sky.

We took our 2 young boys (3 and 6) and everyone had a brilliant day out. We honestly thought we'd be there for maybe an hour, ended up staying for about 3.

There was a great half hour round trip walk to check out the miniature solar system (outdoor walk, ~1km each way), the climb up the gravity tower to drop the water balloons, lots of displays showing off space and our planet (a bit more interesting for the adults) and heap of interactive displays for the kids to play with.

It's located close to Gingin and well worth a full day out.

We had an Absolutely fabulous afternoon here!! Very affordable and run by volunteers the Gravity Centre sure packs in the information and interactive activities for the kids. We were blessed with an unexpected private guided short tour from the Chief Astronomer, who enthralled the girls with interesting facts and got their brains pumping! Thank you to the wonderful staff and Chief Astronomer, Rick for all your hard efforts! Can’t wait to come up for the night tours!

A good experience The night tour is fantastic. Very informative place and great presentations. However, the Gravity Ctr is run down and the hands on displays are filthy.

It's definitely worth a visit when you are up around this area. Ticket price includes indoor galleries, outdoor trails and a climb up the tower. You are also given two water balloons ((one small and one large)) to drop from top of the tower

Enjoy the experiance and science immersion. What a great place to visit if like science, and physics. Some great hands on stuff but is getting a little tired. Some exhibits do need some love to bring them up to scratch. We then climbed the tower and did the gravity testing with water filled balloons. If used to these sort of structures it is fine but if not you may find it a little challenging with the height. Great place overall and as said earlier, just needs a bit of freshen up.

Great place to show kids some magics of science & a brief on the universe.

$52 family 2 adult & 1 kid. Please check price details and allow yourself about 4 hours. Full day and group visit should be great.

Please contact before group arrival, so that you will not miss anything. Try a good sunny day.

We missed the tower view and experiment because of cloudy weather.

Unexpected Awesome Encounter! We chanced upon this place when we were driving back from Pinnacles and boy did we enjoy it! Unfortunately we reached there at 3pm and they closed at 4pm but the staff was kind enough to give us a discounted price for the admission. Although the place looked a bit dated, both my kids still enjoyed themselves very much. Climbing up the tower was probably the highlight where they get to drop the balloon from the top. I don’t think this place is known among many tourists though, but if you are nearby and has young children, you should check it out.

Aboriginal Astronomy Night - Very Disappointing I attended the Aboriginal Astronomy night with my two children and mother. I bought the experience as a birthday present for my 70 year old mum visiting from the UK.

We were all very disappointed. The talk was all about the speakers family and life and how he has been affected by white settlement and his parents displacement from their land. He explained how much it had negatively affected him that his father had attended Sunday school and throughout his life had sung them Christian songs. He also stated it was a proven fact that the aboriginal Australians are the most spiritual people in the world, second to none, so not to bother going to places such as Tibet looking for enlightenment. I'm not sure how science can prove who is more spiritual. He also condemned the behaviour of aboriginal people you see in Northbridge and stated he himself had never claimed a pension or the dole.

He did touch on the creation story but it was a very abbreviated version that only mentioned the spirits briefly and the trees being formed. It was also disjointed as he went off on tangents talking about his uncle so it was difficult to follow.

There were no stories about the night sky or the constellations which was so disappointing as my children and I have heard many stories before on other excursions but this was an opportunity for my mum, as a tourist from the UK, to learn them.

The evening wasn't a complete waste of time due to the fantastic astronomers and astrophysicist that took over for the remainder of the evening. The manager, Rick, was a brilliant and charismatic speaker, who exuded knowledge and passion for astronomy. If I had paid for a 'Night Visit' experience I would have been very happy. Sadly we were there for the 'Aboriginal Astronomy Night'.

I would recommend giving this night a miss.

Staff are great but some of the exhibits are underexplained or broken, and half the posters have grammatical errors in them. Honestly I think if it was all working I would have had a great time!

Very disappointed Very disappointed. Most of the exhibits were not working and didn’t have an explanation on the purpose of exhibits Theatre was not operating and no signs to advise why. Very much in need of renovating and updating exhibits. Very expensive at $22 person for limited entertainment

Good spot with dark nice skies perfect for astronomical observations! Session with telescopes well organized. Will be going back for another session

Night time viewing Great time..would suggest waiting for an evening show and turning up couple of hours early, thus you can have free range at the centre and also have the show. Staff are amazing as astronomers and customer service/hosts.
Café onsite is restricted in food options but still give you a lovely feed,
Check out the Flora and Fauna.

Visited on Friday evening for the night tour.
We arrived at 5:30pm for our pre booked dinner. Frank the volunteer greeted us (a lovely man with a cracking sense of humour). The meal was fantastic, fish and chips, vegetarian panini and chips. We then explored the centre which has many hands on and interesting activities.
At 8pm we watched a slide show and presentation and we’re split into groups. We went outside to observe the night sky and look at the light pollution from Perth. Then we went to the observatory viewing deck to learn more and use the telescopes. It was fascinating the astronomers were very informative and patient answering many questions. We saw Saturn and Neptune absolutely amazing. At the end of the session there was an opportunity to look through the telescopes again and wander around the deck. The sky was breathtaking with the twinkling stars. My husband and I knew nothing about astronomy prior to attending but we left feeling a little more knowledgeable.
We will definitely return to do another tour it us the best value for money. A brilliant evening, highly recommend.

Amazing night We visited the observatory on Friday evening for the night tour. We arrived at 5:30pm for the dinner we had pre ordered. We were greeted by Frank the volunteer who made us very welcome and showed us to our table. What a little character he is!!! A lovely man very entertaining. The meal was excellent, restaurant quality, hubby had fish and chips and I had the vegetarian panini and chips.
We wandered around the observatory and explored the many exhibits, very informative and interesting and hands on!! We began the night tour with a presentation and slide show which was very informative. We were split into groups and went up to the viewing area to use the telescopes and learn more. We saw Saturn and Neptune and a multitude of stars etc it was very interesting and the sky looked beautiful full of twinkling stars.
The astronomers were knowledgeable and very patient answering many questions. At the conclusion of the evening we were invited to look through the telescopes and were not rushed out.
The whole evening was absolutely value for money and we highly recommend this observatory to everyone and the restaurant.
We will definitely be back soon to join another tour.

Interesting experience. Located few km from the main road; you do have to look out for the signage so you wont miss it. No entrance fee but you need to pay if you want to enter their gravity hall/lecture theatre. Cafe area is spacious with displayed science projects, tools/gears/apparatuses and mini exhibitions. It's a good place for a curious young minds. Other activities for young kids are available.

Highly recommended! Attended an astronomy session with my 10 year old son which started at 8pm and went until around 10.30pm. The introuductory presentation was informative and each of the astronomers were very knowledgable and pleased to answer any questions. It was amazing to see nebula, constellations and a detailed look at the Moon.

A stunning night under the stars Take the time to go out of town slightly to the GDC Observatory. Ensure you book as there are times when it is not open. You can wander around the displays inside and learn all about space (great range for all ages); and then look through the telescopes at the constellations from the Southern Hemisphere perspective! All round good value for money and entertainment for the whole family

Star Gazing We loved our visit, it was very intereesting and educational. We we're a group of six including our 16 and 23 year old sons and 78 year old grand parents. Everybody loved it, gran has bad back but there's plenty of seating so she rested as necessary. Both my boys we're enthralled, the staff are just brilliant and were able to answer my sons' rather complex questions. Highlight for me was seeing the ring around Saturn through a telescope amazing. A great family night out highly recommended.

Run Down Decided to go after hearing great things about this place, Once we arrived looked very run down, expensive admission and hardly any of the exhibits were working.