Sydney

During World War II, the Divisional Meteorologist at Sydney was Wing-Commander D. J. Mares, a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. He served in the Australian meteorological service for more than fifty years, thirty of which were spent in Sydney, where his name became a household word. I remember Wing-Commander Mares as a kindly man with no pretensions. He was not militant by nature and did not have much time for formal military protocol and behaviour. As a very junior RAAF officer, I cannot recall ever managing to beat my boss to the salute. Sitting at his desk hatless and often in shirtsleeves, he usually greeted me with a friendly wave and a smile. Bjerkne's theory of frontal analysis was a new-fangled notion to many of the older meteorologists. Nevertheless, Mares' natural ability and long experience had endowed him with a vast knowledge of Australian weather. On more than one occasion he impressed and mystified me with a snap forecast for Sydney, based on scant information, but invariably on the dot. He always enjoyed giving his daily forecast to the press—something he had been doing for many years. He always regarded this as an important function, though under wartime restrictions, what was issued was very brief. It was a great privilege for me to be allowed to perform this task on occasions.

I received a letter from Mr A. W. Mares, son of the famous meteorologist, which stated, 'I remember as a boy (I am 82 now) at the Sydney Observatory watching him with excitement as he released a large balloon with an aluminium cylinder with a small barometer attached, and a label with the address for a finder to return the apparatus . . . he also charted the early flights over the Tasman Sea, amongst which was the one performed by Jean Batten from Mascot'.[87]

When the war ended in 1945, Wing-Commander Mares was in his retirement year. However, at the request of the RAAF he continued in his position for an extra year.

Squadron-Leader B. W. (Barney) Newman was also at Sydney during my tenure there. He was later to become Divisional Meteorologist.

Bureau of Meteorology