Long Service to Bureau

"I arrived at the station on a Thursday afternoon to find a short thickset, bent old lady swinging an axe on the woodpile. On announcing myself, this lady stated that she was one of the three surviving spinster Burvill sisters (there were four but one died only recently) but that she was not now reading the rainfall herself, having ceased in 1915. Miss Hope Burvill is the recorder and has been taking readings since August 1902. The Misses Hope with Ruth were both away from the property so it was arranged with the third sister (christian name unknown) to return on the Saturday. On this day I attended at the station to find the old lady still swinging the axe and Misses Hope and Ruth preparing a first-class morning tea for me.

"In the course of conversation I discovered that the three ladies were all in their 80s, and had lived on the property since July 1902 having gone there with their parents and other brothers and sisters. Their father was killed by a falling tree in January 1939 and the four sisters carried on farming from that time on. Miss Hope Burvill has read the rainfall since 1902 with periodic assistance from her sisters; a check of locally held F68's shows that until July 1922 all returns were signed by Mr. Burvill and from then on by Miss Hope Burvill.

"Since August 1902 there has not been a gap in the records at any time and I feel that there should be some form of recognition by the Bureau to people with such a great sense of duty to the Commonwealth.

"The sisters are also the proud owners of the purple-covered book, "Results of Rainfall Observations made in Western Australia", issued in 1929 and of which the Regional Office has one copy only. They informed me that they would will the book back to the Bureau when they have passed on.

"They also stated that I was the first member of the Bureau to pay them a visit although they did have a letter in 1910 saying that the then Divisional Meteorologist (Mr. Curlewis) would be calling but the visit never materialised".

Bureau of Meteorology