It had been necessary to tell our faithful house-boy, Havi, that I would not be needing his services. Some time later he was to turn up at the RAAF barracks asking for his pay. I explained that, as in the past, he would be paid by the civil native affairs office and should receive the deferred pay which the office had deducted from the amount they had received from me. I did not see him again.

At our new meteorological office on the reclamation area against the hillside on the southern shore of the harbour, we soon settled down to the routine of making surface and upper wind observations, plotting and analysing our weather charts and making forecasts. We were in a good situation for accessibility to aircrew as the jetty for boarding the motor boats which transported them to their aircraft was near the meteorological office. We were not in a good position for briefing pilots of aircraft using the Seven-mile airstrip, but at that time there were no aircraft based on that strip. Soon after Pearl Harbour a group of Wirraways, led by a Hudson, landed at Port Moresby en route to join No 24 Squadron in Rabaul. When they arrived in Rabaul the Squadron numbered four Hudsons and 12 Wirraways.

Bureau of Meteorology