Published Resources Details
Seminar Paper
- Title
- Inigo Jones - the Weather Prophet
- In
- given at the Sydney Observatory, Wednesday 6pm
- Imprint
- Australian Science History Club, Sydney, 15 June 2005
- Description
Dr Tim Sherratt is an historian of Australian science and culture in the History Program of the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. He is editor (with Tom Griffiths and Libby Robin) of A Change in the Weather: Climate and Culture in Australia (National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra, 2005). Tim is currently researching the history of seasonal forecasting in Australia as part of 'The Human Elements' ― a joint project on the cultural history of Australian weather involving the ANU, the National Museum of Australia, and the Bureau of Meteorology.
- Abstract
If drought could be foretold, what difference it would make to the life of a farmer, to the progress of the nation…
Australians have sought escape from the cruel whims of climate through dreams of certainty and control. In the first half of the twentieth century, many laboured to find some sort of pattern or regularity in the weather ― the elusive 'timetable of nature' ― that would allow droughts to be predicted with accuracy.
Amongst the ranks of these hopeful 'weather prophets', Inigo Jones stood alone. Issuing forecasts weeks, months, even years ahead, Jones won a large and devoted following, particularly amongst graziers in NSW and Queensland. Orthodox meteorologists, however, were less convinced of his abilities. In 1939, the Federal government succumbed to many years of public pressure, and ordered a scientific review of Jones's methods.
In this talk, Tim Sherratt will trace some of the personalities and pressures that came together in the 1939 review. Was Jones a charlatan or saviour? ― come along and decide.