Corporate Body

Directorate of Meteorological Services (D.Met.S.) (1941 - 1946)

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)

From
April 1941
Australia
To
July 1946
Functions
Meteorology and Advisory or regulatory body

Summary

The Royal Australian Air Force's Directorate of Meteorological Services (commonly referred to as D.Met.S.) operated during the Second World War. By direction of the War Cabinet, the Meteorological Branch/Bureau passed to the control of the Department of Air in July 1940 with the designated task of providing all meteorological services required by the armed services, while at the same time continuing to meet civil requirements. The formal transfer was completed by April 1941. The D.Met.S. was partly staffed by enlisted personnel and partly by permanent and temporary civilian staff. Many members of the Meteorological Branch/Bureau joined the RAAF and worked in the D.Met.S. One of the tasks carried out was preparing short-range forecasts for air operations.

Related Corporate Bodies

Published resources

Books

  • Bureau of Meteorology, Australia's Role in International Meteorology - IMO-WMO Centenary 1973-1973 (Melbourne: Bureau of Meteorology, 1973). Details
  • Cornish, Allan, Memories of the Bureau of Meteorology 1929-1946 [and three other papers] ([Melbourne]: Bureau of Meteorology, 1996), 92 pp. Details
  • Gibbs, W. J., A glimpse of the RAAF Meteorological Service ([Melbourne]: Bureau of Meteorology, 1995), 100 pp. Details
  • Gibbs, W. J., A mini-history of meteorology in Australia (Melbourne: Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, 1996). Details
  • Haldane, Thomas, War history of the Australian Meteorological Service in the Royal Australian Air Force April 1941 to July 1946 ([Melbourne]: Bureau of Meteorology, 1997), 114 pp. Details
  • Hannay, Keith, Some recollections of service in the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology and RAAF Meteorological Service: Mascot and Rose Bay (1938 to 1940):sojourn in the Far East (1942) (Bureau of Meteorology, 1994), 25 pp. Details
  • Joyce, John, The story of the RAAF Meteorological Service (Melbourne: Bureau of Meteorology, 1993), 112 pp. 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

Journal Articles

  • Bond, H. G., 'A Tradition of Meteorology', Weather News, 127 (February 1967) (1967), 1. Details
  • Cameron, A. M., 'Australian Meteorology', Sydney University Magazine, 1 (1878). Details
  • Gentilli, J., 'A History of Meteorological and Climatological Studies in Australia', University Studies in History, 5 (1967), 54-88. Details
  • Gibbs, W. J., 'A Perspective of Australian Meteorology - 1939-1978', Australian Meteorological Magazine, 30 (1982), 3-17. Details
  • Morgan, Helen, 'Bill Gibbs and the Origins of Australian Meteorology', Australasian Science, 22 (6) (2001), 46. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Ailie Smith and Helen Morgan

EOAS ID: biogs/A000920b.htm

This Edition: 2026 August - Bibliographies
Larneuk - Gariwerd calendar - Pre-spring: late July to August - season of nesting birds
Reference: https://www.bom.gov.au/resources/indigenous-weather-knowledge/indigenous-seasonal-calendars/gariwerd-calendar#bom-anchor-list__item-larneuk-season-of-nesting-birds

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"... the rengitj, as a visible mark or imprint on the land, is characterised as a place of origin, the repository of all names, as well as a kind of mapped visual expression of the connection between people and places which is to be carried out in the temporal sequence of the journey." Fanca Tamisari (1998) 'Body, Vision and Movement: In the footprints of the ancestors'. Oceania 68(4) p260