In 1979 he was promoted to Asst Director (Services) and in 1983 to the new position of Deputy Director (Services).

Major tasks during the eighties included a close involvement with the demarcation dispute, the re-organisation of the Bureau, the capital re-equipment program, and the current program to modernise Bureau operations through the introduction of new technology.

WMO

Bob has been prominent in WMO activities as a member of the Commission for Basic Services Advisory Working Group, which is responsible for implementation of the World Weather Watch System.

In addition to his Bureau duties he has been a very active member of the Royal Meteorological Society (Australian Branch), and was Chairman in 1985/86 during its transition to the new organisation, the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.

Retirement Plans

Bob's immediate plans for "leisure and Pleasure" include a motoring trip with his wife Ferna up the east coast to Cairns during the winter months.

He'll also be devoting more time to golf as a member of the Spring Valley Club, and will continue his keen support of the Carlton Football Club in its campaign for a second successive premiership.

Among the many tributes to Bob Crowder at the HO farewell was the following verse, penned and read by Mary Voice (Executive Branch):

Crowder's Craft

Farewell to our mate Bobby Crowder
He's going to golf don't you know
The roar of the crowd's getting louder
They'll miss him, don't want him to go.

He's had such a weight on his shoulder
Running the Services show
And yet doesn't seem any older
Than when we first met long ago.

He has such a wild sense of humour
Pythonesque—Gilbert & Sullivan—cracked!!
But there is no truth in the rumour
That he's planning his own TV act.

Once before when younger—not bolder
He wowed them on TVyou know
'It's going to get warmer and colder
The front on the chart tells us so'.

A great author Bob also has been
Wrote 'the bible—you've read it—you know
That's 'The Services Handbook' I mean
It's the gospel—the line we must toe.

As a new chum compared to Bob Crowder
I hear these stories of history long played
And the Bureau will resonate louder
To the craft of the Crowder crusade.

We're here to farewell Bobby Crowder
Wish him well on his last Bureau day
The roar of the crowd's getting louder
Let's hear it—HIP HIP HOORAY!!

Messages from former RDs

Congratulatory messages from former Regional Directors Bob Southern (WA) and Ray Wilkie (Qld) were read at the farewell function.

From Bob Southern . . .

"Congratulations on a job well done with supreme equanimity. Relax now, Bob, and enjoy the Blues being inevitably thrashed by the Eagles. Best regards to Ferna and all that. Farewell!"

And from Ray Wilkie . . .

" 'The time has come, the walrus said, when a retired Director can stay in bed' _- so says Wilk! I can vividly recall way back in the 1950s when one Robert Crowder, an enthusiastic and enterprising Met 2, used to bring his ambitions to the notice of his supervisors by chanting the ditty—

'I want to be
A Met Grade 3!'

"Well Bob, it certainly has paid off, not because of the chanting, I would venture to say, but because of your dedication and judgment in decision making (notice I made no reference to forecasting as I reckon Wilk is just ahead of you by a nose in that field).

"Throughout the many years we worked together it was comforting for those of us in the Regions to be able to discuss problems (and there were many of course) with Head Office Executive and to be assured of your unqualified support.

"Bob, my sincerest best wishes for a healthy and happy retirement to yourself and Ferna and hope to see you up this way soon."

Bureau of Meteorology