BAMOS Vol 33 No.3 September 2020 | Page 18

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BAMOS Sep 2020

The dining room of the Divisional Meteorologist ’ s flat in a poor state of repair c 2004 Many of the fittings such as the picture rails , mantle piece and window frames were 1922 originals at this time . Image : Nick Lomb , New South Wales Observatory

Another future leader in this meteorological mix was Edward Waldemar Timcke who served in the office from 1919 to 1928 , part of this time as second‐in‐charge to David Mares . Timcke was a returned soldier , having served in France with the 7th Field Artillery Brigade . He would go on to become Director of Meteorology from 1950 to 1955 .

Following Mares to " The Hill " were two other NSW Bureau Heads , Bernard ( Barney ) Newman and John Hogan , who , like Mares , became the public faces of the Bureau in NSW during their periods of tenure . This covered the period from 1945 to 1963 .

The Bureau relocated from the building in 1963 when public service accommodation was offered at the Commonwealth Centre at Chifley Square in the centre of the city . " The Old Met Building ", as it became affectionately known , was then used irregularly by Bureau technical staff until 1992 after which the doors were closed . It progressively fell into disrepair and after 26 years appeared to be well beyond redemption .

Several attempts to save the building in the early 2000 ' s came to nothing and it seemed only a matter of time before it would be deemed uneconomic to repair and subject to demolition .

However salvation came from an unexpected source in 2018 when the NSW Department of Education decided that the nearby Fort Street Public School needed extending and took ownership of The Old Met building .

References

1 . Official correspondence from the Divisional Meteorologist , Sydney to the Commonwealth Meteorologist , 19 October 1916 .

2 . NSW State Heritage Inventory : SHI Number 2426304 , Bureau of Meteorology Building , 9 Upper Fort Street , Millers Point .

3 . Upper Air Mapped by Balloons , The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 January 1922 , p 10 . https :// trove . nla . gov . au / newspaper / article / 28084624 ? searchTerm = Weather % 20balloons % 20 % 2B % 20sydney % 20weather % 20Bureau & searchLimits =

4 . The New Weather Bureau , The Sydney Morning Herald , 5 January 1922 , p 10 . https :// trove . nla . gov . au / newspaper / article / 28084509 ? searchTerm = new % 20weather % 20 bureau % 20building & searchLimits = dateFrom = 1922-01- 01 ||| dateTo = 1922-12-31

5 . Public announcement of the death of Stewart Wilson , The Sydney Morning Herald , 6 December 1917 , p 8 . https :// trove . nla . gov . au / newspaper / article / 15756800 ? searchTerm = Stewart % 20 Wilson % 20meteorologist & searchLimits =

6 . NSW Department of Education : Fort Street Public School Upgrade . https :// www . schoolinfrastructure . nsw . gov . au / projects / f / fort-street-public-school . html

It is intended that the building will be restored and converted into the school library , a wonderful outcome that will result in an important part of Bureau history being preserved . ⁶ Recognition of the Bureau ' s involvement with the building is being considered .

Acknowledgements

Mr Peter Price , a meteorologist with the Bureau for many years , began his career at The Old Met Building in 1958 . In recent times he has drawn the Bureau ' s attention to the situation evolving with the NSW Education Department to help ensure that the meteorological heritage of the building will be recognised in the refurbishment .

Dr . John Zillman , Director of Meteorology from 1978 to 2003 , who worked as a meteorologist in The Old Met Building in 1962 , is also aware of the situation and drew my attention to Peter ' s interest .