From the debate that followed, it became clear that a smooth handing over of responsibilities from the States to the Commonwealth was not an inevitable outcome of the provisions relating to meteorology in the Constitution. Indeed, the Bill raised important questions about the nature of the federation so recently established. It also embodied a particular view of the science of meteorology that reflected the evolution of the subject as a collaborative enterprise during the previous few decades.

In this article we consider the place of meteorology in the process of federation. Stated briefly, we seek to explain why meteorology became an early focus of intercolonial collaboration, and why and how it became a federal rather than a state responsibility under the Australian Constitution. In the process, we consider the difficulties that beset collaboration in this field in the colonial period, since these help to explain some features of the new Commonwealth Bureau. More generally, by highlighting some of the scientific and technical aspects of the federation story, we hope to encourage others to look at the Australian Constitution from perspectives apart from the political, the economic and the legalistic that ordinarily receive most emphasis.

Bureau of Meteorology