PKS 0518-458 (Pictor A) is the nearest Fanaroff-Riley [1974] type II radio galaxy with a broad-line optical spectrum (d 
140 Mpc, 1'' 700 pc, 1 mas 0.7 pc since z=0.035 and adopting H=75 km/s/Mpc). The large-scale radio source has the classic characteristics of FR II type radio galaxies, with two edge-brightened lobes of radio emission, separated by approximately 290 kpc, straddling the radio core which is coincident with the optical galaxy [Thompson, Crane, & MacKay 1995]. The lobe hot spots are connected along a position angle of approximately 102 
. Simkin, Sadler, and Sault [1994] have reported the detection of a kpc-scale jet connecting the core to the western hot spot.
The western hot spot itself contains a compact radio source and has been detected at optical wavelengths. The radio and optical morphology is complex and the optical emission is highly polarised [Thompson, Crane, & MacKay 1995].
The optical galaxy has been extensively studied and is notable for its strong, low ionisation, broad emission line spectrum which is variable. Sulentic et al. [1995] report dramatic variations in the strength and appearance of the Balmer lines.
The core of the radio source has been little studied, in comparison to the large-scale radio structure. Jones, McAdam, and Reynolds [1994] found Pictor A to have the second highest core flux density in their sample of radio galaxies, the source with the brightest core being Centaurus A. Jones, McAdam, and Reynolds [1994] found the Pictor A core to be unresolved on the Parkes to Tidbinbilla baseline of 275 km with a flux density of approximately 1.1 Jy at 8.4 GHz and a spectral index between 2.3 and 8.4 GHz of 
( 
).
This chapter contains a description of the first VLBI imaging investigation of the radio core of this powerful, low red shift radio galaxy.