Training

The retirement of J. C. Foley from the position of Chief Scientific Officer in June 1957 occurred at a time when Len Dwyer was heavily involved in reorganising the Bureau, serving on the Atomic Weapons Safety Committee, participating in the work of the newly developed WMO and initiating an upgrading of a wide range of Bureau activities.

For a considerable period there was a reshuffle of staff acting in various positions in the Bureau's Central Office and if my memory serves me correctly George Rutherford was in charge of the Training Section for a period before he was promoted in charge of the Central Office Central Analysis Office which eventually became the Melbourne World Centre of the WMO World Weather Watch. A major development occurred with the return to the Bureau of Bruce Retallack on 17 March 1960.

Bruce was one of the South Australian schoolteachers who had joined the Bureau in 1940 as a preamble to wearing RAAF uniform as a member of the RAAF Meteorological Service. He served with distinction as a RAAF forecasting officer during the war years and after demobilisation with the rank of squadron leader in 1946 was appointed head of the Mathematics and Physics Department of the Bendigo School of Mines. He was thus ideally qualified to take over the responsibility of Supervising Meteorologist of the Bureau's Training School.

Bureau of Meteorology