An Evolutionary Timeline for High-mass Star Formation
  The details of the physical process through which high-mass stars form
remains nearly as much of a mystery now as it was when the Parkes radio
telescope commenced operation. The energy output from high-mass stars
influence, or directly drive many important processes in the evolution of
galaxies and so understanding in detail when and how they form is important for
a broad range of fields of astrophysics. Interstellar masers are one of the
most readily observed signposts of regions where young high-mass stars have
formed. We have recently made great progress towards using the different maser
species and transitions to construct a maser-based evolutionary timeline for
high-mass star formation. Here we give an overview of this work, highlighting
the particular contribution that past and on-going observations with the Parkes
64m radio telescope have made to this area.
