The Australian Synchrotron project

Funding for the Australian Synchrotron, a 3 GeV synchrotron light source, was announced by the Victorian State Government in January 2003, and six months later bulldozers moved onto the green-field site in the South- East suburbs of Melbourne. After a remarkably fast construction and installation period the accelerators, which form the heart of the facility, were commissioned in 2006. Installation of the first five beamlines commenced in January 2007, and the first experiments were carried out in April. In this presentation we give an update on the status of the facility and present highlights of the commissioning activities.