Another memorable occasion was a visit to Darwin with Ralph de la Lande two days after Cyclone Tracy had devastated that city. We sat at the conference table with a large party of important people. I was taken aback by the Director of Works who said that the wind velocity was inaccurate because the Dines mast and hut in centre of airport was blown away. I excused myself and quoted from a letter and drawings I had prepared three months before Tracy's visit for the hut to be a concrete structure and the tower to be modified. The Director called for the file (Ralph said 'are you sure?'). I replied 'yes, everything is OK'. Well the file arrived and we found the letter. The Director of Works apologised. He asked what exactly was required and in one week after Tracy a concrete hut was up and a stronger tower constructed. Met stations in the cyclone area from Western Australia to North Queensland received the same treatment.

Another interesting exercise in which I was involved was planning of and participation in the first Moving Ships Project. We sailed from Perth to Port Elizabeth, in South Africa. Down to Cape Town, then up to Durban, where we stopped for three weeks to paint the ship. On to Mozambique and Beira. Down past Madagascar and around the bottom of Australia. Up to Gisborne in New Zealand after which I flew home to Australia.

Reg Stout with the captain of Port Montreal during the Moving Ships Project.

I was away for over four months and did four flights in 24 hours up to 100,000 feet each day. The information was important because much of our weather comes from west to east across the Indian Ocean. The soundings were very valuable for our research—Meteorologist Sid Owens and I battled some rough seas around Madagascar, getting out of bed at 2.00 am in howling gales. It took some getting used to launching the balloon, and the transmitter also was a problem. We were kept so busy we never suffered sea sickness. When the ship was pitching and rolling it was an accomplishment to even draw two parallel lines, and writing of reports and recording data was extremely difficult with personal belongings and instruments flying all around the cabin.

The trip had been a huge success and Sid and myself felt it was a tremendous experience. Projects of this type were part of an international scheme endorsed by the World Meteorological Organization.

Bureau of Meteorology