This was significantly larger than the largest refractors of the period such as the Lick telescope and Yerkes, although those were both in the northern hemisphere (they would view the northern skies as opposed to the southern) The telescope had a 48-inch-diameter (1,200 mm) speculum primary mirror, and was mounted on an equatorial mounting, enabling it to track the stars accurately as they appeared to move across the sky.

In the early 1990s the telescope, still utilising Grubb's original equatorial mounting, was rebuilt with two charge-coupled device (CCD) arrays to detect MACHOs (massive astrophysical compact halo objects).

[12] A project was set up to restore it to working order and bring its optical, mechanical and electrical systems into line with current best practice, so that it may be used for educational and public viewing in its original home at the Melbourne Observatory.

After more than five years weighing up different proposals, engineering work commenced in late 2013 thanks to a grant of A$70,000 from the Copland Foundation.

[12][16] The Victorian government committed $600,000 for the first stage of the restoration, and private benefactors also provided financial support.