Bob commenced as a Cadet Meteorologist in Adelaide in February 1959. His contemporaries include Ian Mason (now RD ACT), Graeme Furier (RD SA), Steve West (Senior Forecaster WA RO), Len Broadbridge (RD WA) and Tom Wigley (Professor at the University of East Anglia).

In 1960–61 he completed his BSc at Adelaide University and in 1962 undertook the Meteorologist Training Course. (DDR Doug Gauntlett, STST Peter Price and RD Qld Rex Falls were on the same course.)

Bob was posted to the WA RO which included the old Western Analysis Centre in 1963 and then spent about one year at Pearce RAAF Base. He came to Melbourne in 1967 to join the Research and Development Branch (Brian Tucker, now at CSIRO, was ADR at the time).

During his time in R&D there were a number of interesting projects undertaken, including the Laverton Serial Sounding Experiment, which made detailed three-hourly upper air soundings for a one month period, and the two, now famous, boundary layer investigations—the Wangara Experiment at Hay and the Koorin Experiment at Daly Waters. Bob developed an interest in the study of wind structure, which subsequently formed the basis for a thesis prepared for his PhD, completed at Melbourne University in 1973.

Bob acted in the position of ADR from September 1980 until the end of 1984, when the Branch was disbanded to be replaced by BMRC which commenced operations in January 1985.

Highlights

During 1977–78, Bob spent a year in the US working with NOAA Environmental Research Laboratories on Project Stormfury. He flew through a hurricane in the Caribbean (and has a certificate to prove it!) and through two cyclones in Australia. On a scale of harrowing experiences, Bob rated the flights as "terrifying", although "the first time was the worst".

Bob also enjoyed his involvement with the CAS (Commission for Atmospheric Sciences) VIII Advisory Working Group in Melbourne in 1982.

His two years in Saudi Arabia were "very broadening", giving the opportunity for a range of experiences that "you would not get in the Bureau". At one stage, the members of the project were called on to write a tender specification for the complete running of the Saudi met service and environmental protection agency—a contract worth in the vicinity of $120 million and covering everything from cleaners to meteorologists and also the purchase of equipment.

Living in Saudi was "a good life", even though Bob was separated from his family during the time

Outside interests

Bob and his wife Jill have twin sons, Doug and James aged 17, both still at school.

Bob keeps fit by running in marathons—he participated in two of these in Saudi and was "second in the veterans' division".

He also enjoyed a bit of dinghy sailing and is looking forward to resuming his interest in blue water sailing now that he is back in Australia.

Bureau of Meteorology