The New South Wales Divisional Office

John Hogan (1896–1970) was promoted to the position of Deputy Director (NSW) in 1948 to succeed David Mares, who had occupied the position of Divisional Meteorologist for about 30 years and had retired in March 1945. The title Deputy Director replaced that of Divisional Meteorologist in Warren's post-war reorganisation of the Bureau.

Between the retirement of David Mares and the appointment of John Hogan (1896–1970), B. W. Newman acted as Divisional Meteorologist/Deputy Director, Sydney with G. W. Mackey as his principal assistant.

Hogan, Newman and Mackey were all long-serving members of the Bureau and all had science degrees, mainly gained from part-time university study over a period of many years. All had learnt their meteorology from textbooks and from Bureau people like Kidson and Barkley.

Keith Hannay and Jack Wiesner, former high school teachers with more recent science degrees, were some of the younger generation of meteorologists who had begun their meteorological education in the Bureau's Training School and who joined the Sydney Divisional Office shortly after demobilisation from the RAAF Meteorological Service. They brought a more modern approach to the provision of public weather services.

Jack developed a special interest in the problem of flood forecasting and may be considered one of the first to attempt to develop a specialised system for predicting the degree of inundation of flood plains. Keith Hannay developed a special interest in the effect of weather on the outbreak and spread of bushfires, working with Harry Luke of the NSW Forestry Department.

This focus on flood and bushfire warning raised the question of Commonwealth/State responsibilities. The States had all taken a role in civil defence, originally during the war. After the war this extended to protection of the civil population from floods and bushfires.

The news media were much keener to present weather information than they had been pre-war. Weather forecasts had been the butt of ridicule by some of the general public but as the newspapers and Government and commercial radio stations competed in presenting weather forecasts, the public took a greater interest in the information provided by Divisional Offices. Special forecasts were sought for broadcast to the general public. Newspapers had been the main source of weather information before the war but, now, radio stations sought to supply more up-to-date information.

Bureau of Meteorology