Notes Prepared by John Hogan
Introduction
I Join the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology
H. A. Hunt (1866–1946) — First Commonwealth Meteorologist
Inigo Jones (1872–1954)
Griffith Taylor, D.SC, B.E., B.A. (1880–1963)
Edward Kidson, O.B.E., D.Sc., F. Inst. P. (1882–1939)
My Recollections of Captain Edward Kidson (R.E) O.B.E, D.Sc., F. Inst. P. (1882–1939)
Macquarie Island
Willis Island
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Hunt maintained a keen interest in the daily weather forecasting service and presided daily over the Forecasts Board until 1919, when he again made an overseas tour of inspection. On his return he withdrew from the Forecast Board (R. F. Griffiths replaced him), but his interest in forecasting did not wane. Hunt now had an increasingly greater amount of administrative work to handle, as control by the Department was loosened, and about 1927 when the Seat of Government was transferred to Canberra, an administrative load was borne by the Commonwealth Meteorologist. Hunt was co-author (with Taylor and Quayle) of 'The Climate and Weather of Australia' published in 1913.
In his later years he made an excursion into original work in meteorology when he propounded the 'Theory of the Heat Pool'. It was read at a meeting of the Royal Meteorological Society.
Hunt's Heat Pool Theory was that when droughts have parched the vast expanse of Central Australia, the effect is that of a fire which draws in currents of surrounding air laden with moisture, the monsoons came farther south and periods of heavy rain followed the droughts. Grass springs up, as if by magic, dry lakes and watercourses fill, and the monsoons, returning to their old latitudes set the stage for another period of drought.
His paper was a preliminary attack on the subject which he hoped to expand and complete, but he retired with no more work added to it, and presumably he did no more when in retirement.
During his fifteen years of retirement, Hunt had hobbies which helped him to pass the time; he was an efficient carpenter and cabinet-maker and also a mechanic. By 1920, he was already the possessor of a motor car, which he drove to his office daily, in the days when there were few motor vehicles on the roads. He also had a passion for chess and bridge.
October 1969
J. Hogan
People in Bright Sparcs - Hogan, John; Hunt, Henry Ambrose ; Quayle, Edwin Thomas; Taylor, Thomas Griffith
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