Warren Joins the Bureau (continued)

To appreciate the significance of Warren's appointment as acting Director it is useful to consider the report of a meeting in Canberra on 27 May 1940 of a committee appointed by the Minister for the Interior to consider applications responding to an advertisement inviting applications for the position of Director (Commonwealth Meteorologist).

I discovered a copy of this report in the office of L. J. Dwyer, the Director of Meteorology, following his death in 1962. The copy bears no letterhead, file number, signature or other identification. It has the appearance of a confidential document.

Members of the committee are recorded as T. H. Laby, O. U. Vonwiller, Kerr Grant, T. Parnell, Sir David Rivett, Dr J. F. Baldwin (Government Astronomer, Victoria), Mr W. S. Watt (Commonwealth Meteorologist) and Mr J. A. Carradous (Secretary, Department of the Interior). Sir David Rivett is recorded as being unable to attend because of absence overseas.

The circumstance that Laby (Melbourne), Vonwiller (Sydney) and Kerr Grant (Adelaide) were professors of physics/natural philosophy at their respective universities and Rivett was founder and executive head of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) shows that those forming the committee were well aware of the need for scientific direction of the Bureau.

Applicants for the position from the Bureau are listed as A. G. Akeroyd (Divisional Meteorologist, Perth), H. E. Camm (Supervising Meteorologist, Melbourne), J. C. Foley (Supervising Meteorologist, Melbourne), J. Hogan (1896–1970) (Meteorologist Grade 2, Melbourne), D. J. Mares (Divisional Meteorologist, NSW), B. W. Newman, (Meteorologist Grade 2, Sydney), A. S. Richards (Divisional Meteorologist, Qld), E. W. Timcke (Supervising Meteorologist, Melbourne), H. N. Warren (Assistant Director, Administration), Melbourne.

Bureau of Meteorology