Achievements of the Dwyer Years (continued)

Other significant achievements mentioned in the report to the Minister for the Interior were the reorganisation of the Bureau in 1959, a program which trained 50 meteorologists, 114 observers, 33 observers-radio and 12 international students, and the amendment in 1955 of the original Meteorology Act of 1906.

Len Dwyer fell ill in April 1962 and was admitted to the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, near Melbourne. I was acting as Director of Meteorology in Len's absence when I received a message asking that I visit him in hospital with John Lillywhite. When we arrived at the hospital we found him in bed in a ward with a number of other war veterans. We did not discuss his medical condition. He asked about the progress of the many projects in which he was especially interested, which included the upgrading of the Bureau's wind-finding and weather watching by the acquisition of the English Decca company's WF44 10 cm radar. This purchase was being negotiated by Len and Bill Brann.

Len died on 16 May 1962, after less than four weeks absence from his office. Like H. N. Warren he was dedicated to the task of achieving his vision of a Bureau which would be ranked in excellence and efficiency with the best in the world. He was 54. Warren was 62 at the time of his death on 5 August 1950. Both pursued their objective with relentless energy, regardless of their state of health.

Bureau of Meteorology