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Federation and MeteorologyBureau of Meteorology
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Table of Contents

Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology

Preface

Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology 1929–1946 by Allan Cornish

History of Major Meteorological Installation in Australia from 1945 to 1981 by Reg Stout

Four Years in the RAAF Meteorological Service by Keith Swan

The Bureau of Meteorology in Papua New Guinea in the 1950s by Col Glendinning
Foreword
Introduction
Brief History and Geography
Station Operations
Air Transport
The Port Moresby Office
Housing for Bureau Staff, Port Moresby
Staff Members and Their Families
Local Transport
Education
Entertaining, Sport and Lifestyle
Shopping Facilities
Malaria
Native Servants
Communication with Native Servants
Meteorology
Forecasting Problems in Port Moresby
Other Comments


Index
Search
Help

Contact us

Foreword (continued)

After 38 years as an 'old style' Weather Officer Colin retired in 1984. He recalls with some pride that at age 55 he was a member of a Victorian Regional Office football team against a team from the Bureau's Training School. During the course of the game several of the budding meteorologists-in-training with whom he made physical contact called him a 'bald-headed old bastard'.

Colin finds it easy to recall the names and personalities of at least sixty Bureau people with whom he has worked. These include old-timers like Harry Ashton, Alan Brunt, Reg Clarke, Ted Desmond, Trevor Donald, Arthur Douglas, Andy Garriock, Aub Gotley, Joe Hobba, Des Hart, Keith Hannay, Charlie James, Kevin Lomas, Jack McDonough, Andy Murfett, John Sylvester Maher, George Mackey, Jack Nance, Des Nolan, Peter Orr, Pat Ryan, Keith Stibbs, Bob Southern, Ginty Stevens, Arthur White (one of the earliest aviation forecasters), Don Wright and Bob Walsh.

In this article Colin reminisces about his time in Papua and New Guinea in the 1950s when aviation technology was primitive by today's standards and when the Bureau's aviation forecasts were more critical for aircraft operation than at the present time.

Col now lives in Caringbah, a suburb of Sydney, with his wife Shirley. They had two sons, Douglas MB BS (deceased) and Bruce BA(Hons) who lives in the UK.

The editorial work of Ian Forrest of the Bureau's Head Office has made an important contribution in preparing this article for publication.

W. J. Gibbs

Melbourne
June 1995


People in Bright Sparcs - Ashton, Henry Tamblyn (Harry); Brunt, Allan Thomas; Clarke, Reginald Henry; Gibbs, William James (Bill); Glendinning, Colin (Col); Hannay, Alexander Keith (Keith); Lomas, K. C. (Kev); Mackey, George William; Murfett, A. M. (Andy); Ryan, Patrick (Pat); Stibbs, Keith; White, Arthur Charles

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Cornish, A., Stout, R., Swan, K and Glendinning, C. 1996 'Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology', Metarch Papers, No. 8 February 1996, Bureau of Meteorology

© Online Edition Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre and Bureau of Meteorology 2001
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
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