Corporate Body

CSIR/O Meteorological Physics Research Section (1946 - 1954)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

From
1946
Highett, Victoria, Australia
To
1954
Aspendale, Victoria, Australia
Functions
Meteorology and Industrial or scientific research
Alternative Names
  • CSIR Meteorological Physics Research Station (Also known as, 1946 - 1949?)
Reference No
CA 3391
Legal Status
Agency of the Commonwealth of Australia
Location
Highett, Victoria

Summary

Established in May 1949, the Meteorological Physics Research Section was located in Highett, Victoria. It was also referred to as the CSIR Meteorological Physics Research Station. 1954 saw changes of both location and name for the Section, when it moved to new premises in Aspendale and was granted Divisional status, becoming the Division of Meteorological Physics.

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Details

From "CSIRO research for Australia" (1962) pdf page 36:
"C.S.I.R.O.'s Division of Meteorological Physics is almost unique in that it is purely a research unit divorced from the obligation of providing weather forecasts. The need for a meteorological research group was foreseen by the present Chairman, Dr. F. W. G. White, and his colleagues on the C.S.I.R. Executive Committee during the last years of the Second World War. In 1946 Dr. C. H. B. Priestley, a scientist from the British Meteorological Office, was brought out to Australia to establish C.S.I.R.'s Meteorological Physics Section. Dr. Priestley's first tasks were to establish laboratories in Melbourne, to decide on a research policy, and to recruit staff. Like many other C.S.I.R. groups in the post-war era, the meteorologists had to make do with temporary quarters until 1953 when they moved into their new laboratories at Aspendale, an outer Melbourne suburb. Associated with the laboratory is a small field station at Edithvale, a couple of miles away. The appointments of research staff began in 1947."

From National Archives of Australia CA 3391 entry:
"In 1946 a new section of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (CA 486) (the predecessor of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) was established to meet the need for a more fundamental study of atmospheric processes than was undertaken by the Bureau of Meteorology. Charles Henry Brian Priestley came from England to become the Officer-in-charge of the new Meteorological Physics Research Section (CA 3390) and to prepare a program of research.

The Section was established in Melbourne to be close to institutions with wide meteorological interests.

Initial plans for a wide range of research were restricted by the refusal of the Bureau of Meteorology to allow the transfer of some of their staff to the Section. Consequently, the section initially concentrated on turbulence and micrometeorology with four scientists - Bill Swinbank, Len Deacon, Reg Taylor and Bob James.

In 1948, the section moved from Flinders Lane to Highett where disused internment huts were used for accommodation. In 1954, they moved to Aspendale, utilising part of the old training racetrack. An experimental site was set up at Edithvale Road, Edithvale, Victoria.

On 19 May 1949 the Commonwealth CSIR (CA 486) was abolished. It was replaced by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) (CA 641). The Section became the Meteorological Physics Research Section CSIRO.

The Section was accorded Divisional status on 19 August 1954 to become the Division of Meteorological Physics."

Timeline

 1946 - 1954 CSIR/O Meteorological Physics Research Section
       1954 - 1971 CSIRO Division of Meteorological Physics
             1971 - 1988 CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Physics
                   1988 - 2005 CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research
                         2005 - 2014 CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research

Related People

Published resources

Books

  • CSIRO, CSIRO research for Australia: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Canberra: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation, 1962), 64 pp, https://www.eoas.info/bib-pdf/ASBS15940.pdf. Details
  • Gibbs, W. J., A mini-history of meteorology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 1996). Details

Book Sections

  • Gibbs, W. J., 'A mini-history of meteorology in Australia' in Windows on Meteorology: Australian Perspective, Webb, Eric K., ed. (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 1997), pp. 81-104. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

  • Webb, Eric K. ed., Windows on Meteorology: Australian Perspective (Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 1997), 342 pp. Details

Ailie Smith

Created: 20 September 2000, Last modified: 7 March 2025

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