Some years later, when addressing a graduation ceremony at the University of Melbourne at which I received an honorary D.Sc., I spoke on a similar subject, the role of practitioners, teachers and research workers in meteorology. In that address I emphasised the obvious advantages of close collaboration and some overlap between these three sections of the meteorological profession.

My views on the importance of the matters on which I spoke at ANZAAS and the University of Melbourne graduation ceremony were influenced by Warren and Dwyer. But this is not an appropriate place for lengthy personal reminiscences of my career as Director of Meteorology. In embarking on these reminiscences of the years 1946 to 1962 I had a vague intention of subsequently writing about the period 1962 to 1978 when I was Director of Meteorology. I have found the effort of writing the story of the Warren, Timcke and Dwyer years so enervating that I have decided to leave the story of the 1962 to 1978 years to any future writer with an interest in those years of the Bureau's history.

The information in the issues of Weather News from June 1962 to December 1982, my summary of the Bureau years 1939–78 (Gibbs, 1982), an interview published in the WMO Bulletin (Vol 34, No 3 pp 183–196), another interview recorded on tape by AMOS, the Metarch Paper by Gardner (1997), the Annual Reports of the Bureau from 1969 to 1978 and such files as have been preserved by the Bureau will provide a wealth of material for anyone with a desire to write about the Bureau during the 16 years I was Director of Meteorology. There are however a few important details of the history of that period which were not widely publicised and this chapter gives some information on those matters.

Bureau of Meteorology