Trevor Donald Tells It All; Life in the Bureau from 1947 to 1989 (continued)

I travelled to the Island on board VH-AKP, an ex-WWII Sunderland flying boat operated by Ansett Airways. My family followed a month or so later when I had acquired temporary accommodation pending the eventual construction of three Bureau residences.

The meteorological office and the aeradio office shared a two roomed building situated about 200 metres from the edge of the lagoon. All communications to and from the Island were carried by telegraphy. There were no telephones on the Island and most homes used pressure lamps or paraffin lamps for lighting.

Automotive transport on the Island was limited. DCA had an ex-Services' blitz buggie to service their various installations, the Lord Howe Island Board of Control had a post-WWII Bedford flat bed truck, a 1920s Leyland truck and a Fordson tractor. The Island Medical Officer had a small Ford Prefect sedan. Outside of that, there were a couple of horse and buggie outfits and wooden sleds pulled by steers or the tractor. All roads were of sand or gravel.

The Island had a small two bed hospital to cater for its day-to-day medical needs. Urgent medical cases were transferred to the mainland for attention. A retired dentist living on the Island could also be called upon for dental emergencies.

A small two teacher infant/primary school catered for the educational needs of the children. Secondary school studies were usually pursued on the mainland.

During 1954–55 a new meteorological station was constructed on the eastern side of the Island along with three staff residences. The new station was state of the art at the time. It had a 277F S-band radar along with an AWA 72 MHz radiosonde ground station. In addition, a voice radio link was established between Lord Howe Island and Sydney Airport thus allowing the duty Observers to clear their own traffic.

Power, of course, was essential to get the station up and running. DCA had their own works program running concurrently with construction of the meteorological station. Apart from radio equipment upgrading, a new power station was being installed which would meet their requirements as well as Bureau requirements. Surplus power was made available to the Lord Howe Island Board, and within a few short months all homes had electric lighting and were allowed to run a refrigerator.

Bureau of Meteorology