An attempt has been made to collect a series of reminiscences of life on the Island at various stages of its development. Chapters 3 to 8 present these in chronological order. They have been reproduced as received, with only minor changes to correct major grammatical and spelling errors.

It should be remembered that the Postmaster-General's Department (PMG), Coastal Radio Section, managed the Island at the beginning. Reading the early documentation suggests that the Island was seen as a radio station which provided observations rather than an observing site which used radio to deliver its product. Following this, Amalgamated Wireless (Australasia) (AWA), and later the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC), managed the Island until 1966 when the Bureau took over. As a result, most of the staff on Willis Island in the early years were radio operators who presumably were given a brief training in taking observations.

The years of change from PMG to AWA to OTC control are unclear, and are probably held in Telstra records if anywhere.

Beside the visible changes in the observations and communications over the 75 years, there have been many less obvious to an outsider. The accommodation has improved from the original 'temporary' primitive shack to modern air-conditioned living quarters. Even the methods of getting stores ashore are vastly improved, the original method being to use the ship's boat to get close to shore and to cart the stores by hand the last few yards through the water.

Bureau of Meteorology