Australia Talks

When the Bureau of Meteorology was established 100 years ago, its role was to help in the process of building the nation. According to the newly federated government, the country needed more European immigrants and investment as well as expansion beyond the coastal strip. The Bureau, it was hoped, would be part of that, providing information about rainfall patterns, potential water storages and regions that could support new pasture.

Later, and particularly after the second world war, the bureau's role changed. Air travel, mining exploration and even Britain's atomic testing, demanded greater and more accurate weather science. And now climate change has thrown up new expectations. But despite that, historian David Day says the bureau has had to cope on shoestring budgets for years and more recently, enforced efficiency dividends. David Day has just published The Weather Watchers: 100 Years of the Bureau of Meteorology.

Guests

David Day, author of The Weather Watchers: 100 Years of the Bureau of Meteorology

Rob Chapman, station manager, Giles Weather Station, WA

Greg Lehman
PhD candidate, indigenous weather knowledge

Further Information

For information on the history of the Giles weather station BoM

For information on David Day's book The Weather Watchers

Indigenous Weather Knowledge

Presenter

Paul Barclay

Story Researcher and Producer

Debra McCoy