The extent of his impact was the result of a remarkable combination of circumstances. When Warren joined the Bureau in 1938 the possibility of the outbreak of World War II was becoming more and more threatening. The urgency of the need to improve meteorological services for aviation in general, and the Royal Australian Air Force in particular, had become obvious.

Warren had the administrative ability to reorganise the Bureau to provide the meteorological services needed during the war years, and to undertake a further reorganisation to cope with vastly changed circumstances in the post-war period. They were times of change and Warren was the man for the times.

Warren the Man

After the war Warren returned to his position in the Electoral Office of the Commonwealth Public Service and was appointed to the position of Returning Officer for the electorate of Denison in Tasmania. While in that position he was involved with a Board of Enquiry charged with the reorganisation of the Commonwealth Public Service. He was appointed Commonwealth Electoral Returning Officer for Tasmania in 1934 and later served as Public Service Inspector for Tasmania.

I first met Warren during my time as a trainee weather officer in the headquarters of the Bureau in 1940. I remember him as a neatly-dressed, sturdily-built man of medium height with a business-like manner and an air of authority. Later I was to discover he also had a delightful sense of humour, was a man of compassion, but one who did not suffer fools gladly.

Bureau of Meteorology