Northern Australia—1942

Amongst Meteorological Officers who served at Darwin were Neil McRae, Keith Hannay, Vic Bahr, Andy Garriock, John Lillywhite, Bob McConnell, Bryan Rofe, Allan Cornish, Arch Shields, Henry Banfield and George Trefry. Meteorological Assistants in 1942 included Warrant-Officers A. Sullivan, H. Carpenter, W. Dwyer, H. Gilbert, C. James, A. Murfett and J. O'Connor. Other ranks included L. Coombes, R. Hargreaves, B. Slattery and D. Armstrong.

Many accounts have been written of the bombing of Darwin and the exodus of the populace, including military personnel, inland. Arch Shields saw the USS Neptunia blow up during a raid, producing a magnificent thunderhead (cumulonimbus cloud) and a thunderstorm. One officially unrecorded tale tells of two Met. officers who remained in Darwin throughout the first raid. They wandered around the devastated town. One picked up a discarded tin hat, the other a couple of scattered batteries for his torch. As they were doing this, who should confront them but a senior RAAF Group-Captain who had arrived in Darwin just after the air raid. At a subsequent officers' meeting that night at a hastily contrived mess inland at Adelaide River, the Grouper - who was noted for his bluntness—commented: What did I find when I got to Darwin? Only two Met. officers. And what were they doing? Looting the bloody town!'

During the real war, the paper war waged more fiercely than ever at Darwin meteorological office. Gerry O'Mahoney smiled when he told me how many files were lost in the raids on Darwin—'destroyed by enemy action' was the phrase used by OIC Neil McRae in a telegram to D.Met.S. Melbourne. Most of us would have welcomed such an opportunity to account for lost items, particularly papers, which remote officialdom seemed to be unduly concerned about.

Bureau of Meteorology