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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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Inigo Jones (1872–1954) (continued)

A few years later, the father acquired a farm and the family settled at Beerwah, about 60 miles north of Brisbane, and the property was named 'Crohamhurst' after Lord Goschen's Surrey estate. Here Jones set up his meteorological station, which he maintained for almost two-thirds of a century; and here on 2 February 1893, he measured 35.71 inches (907 mm) of rain; the greatest daily fall on record in Australia.

About this time Wragge, at the suggestion of the Postmaster General for Queensland, had begun to explore the practicability of issuing long-term weather forecasts on the basis of the Bruckner cycle and the sunspot period, on which Wragge had already done some experimentation. As a member of Wragge's staff, Jones was called upon to assist in these studies, and as the years went on he developed such enthusiasm for the work, that it became his life's principal concern.

In 1923 Jones began issuing long-range weather forecasts, for which he was to become famous. His forecasts were based on astronomical observations and the repetition of weather cycles and although they were never proved, during his lifetime (and since), to be founded on a correct theory, they gained for him a big following among primary producers.

Agitation for official recognition of Jones's forecasting methods persisted to such an extent, that in 1954 the Federal Minister for the Interior established a committee to conduct a Departmental investigation into Jones's activities and claims. This committee had shown that Jones's forecasts had only a 50 per cent chance of being correct.


People in Bright Sparcs - Hogan, John; Jones, Inigo Owen; Wragge, Clement Lindley

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Hogan, J. 1986 'Notes Prepared by John Hogan (1896-1970)', Metarch Papers, No. 2 March 1986, Bureau of Meteorology

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