Vila and Noumea Bases

Similarly, the RAAF weather section at Noumea, New Caledonia, did not function for long. FO (later Sqn Ldr) C. J. Wiesner and WO K. A. Smith established the section at the Air Force base on Ile Nou in October 1941, receiving cooperation from the French meteorologist and the Pan American base on the island. They met with many difficulties, among which were the hampering effect on communications provided by the poor telephone service, the language inconvenience and, at one stage, isolation caused by a nearby outbreak of bubonic plague.

In August 1942 meteorological services were taken over by the United States Navy and the Australians returned home.

The Attacks on Darwin and Broome

In the Darwin air-raid of 19 February 1942, some damage was done to the meteorological office by shrapnel and the effects of blast, but, from the operational point of view, the most serious effect was the interruption to teleprinter communication with Adelaide that occurred with the destruction of the Darwin post office. With RAAF signals already overloaded, it was impossible to obtain weather information through these channels, so the reporting network ceased to function, with obvious effect on forecasting. As a remedial measure, to some extent, it was decided to promote the function of the Daly Waters meteorological section from an observing to a forecasting post, in order to service aircraft flying to Adelaide and Brisbane.

On the day after the great raid, RAAF Operations moved to a new dispersal site. With them, of course, moved the met section, continuing to function in a large tent, hampered also by the necessity of sending, by means of an ancient car, 20 miles down the Batchelor Road to collect weather telegrams at the improvised post office. Later RAAF despatch riders improved this arrangement, if only by increased speed in deliveries.

The officers' quarters at Batchelor, 1944 (Photograph courtesy of Eric Cuthbertson)

Naturally, conditions were bad, apart from the frequent bombing. In one raid the meteorological tent was blown in half again without injury to personnel. In May, a new dispersed operations site on the western side of the RAAF aerodrome was occupied, and a subsequent move by the met section was to the Berrima Hospital site, where American weather men joined the team.

Fl Lt (later Sqn Ldr) J. N. McRae was in charge of the Darwin weather section through the bombing period, whilst Sqn Ldr G. W. Mackey arrived in April to take up the position of area meteorological officer.

In Broome, when the heavy Japanese raid burst on the township on 2 March, the staff of the meteorological station comprised Fl Lt Holmes, who had arrived from Ambon, via Darwin, on 20 February, Mr F. G. Rose, a civilian meteorologist and Fl Sgt G. Sneyd, who was later to figure in the nearly disastrous flight between Learmonth and Cocos Island.

Bureau of Meteorology